Television screens in Friday Harbor featured a familiar face on Tuesday, Jan. 27, as local retiree Mary Ellen Judge competed, and won, on Wheel of Fortune. Judge, who had just finished cancer treatments the week before, bantered with host Ryan Seacrest and won over the audience with her quick wit and grandmotherly nature.

“I recently went through some cancer, and this makes me feel alive!” she told Seacrest with a sparkle in her eye. “It’s just great to be alive and here with you.”

Judge had a rough start to the game, with nothing on the board until the prize round. When she won that round, she immediately said, “Where am I going?” to Seacrest, before he could even explain that she was going on a trip. The audience laughed as Seacrest said, “She knows how this works.”

Yes, she does. Judge has been an avid watcher of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune for years – especially since Covid. Her partner at the time would hear her shout out the answers and always said she should go on the show. When her granddaughter came to help take care of her after her cancer surgery, they would watch the show together, and Judge mentioned that memory to her.

“And that little sneaky girl,” Judge told the Journal, “she went online and entered me somehow!”

Judge quickly had an interview, and then a second, with four quick puzzles to complete. When she asked if they thought she’d be on the show, they told her she’d know within a year.

“I thought, oh for heaven’s sake, I could be dead in a year!” she laughed. Two weeks later, she got the call to go to Los Angeles, California. It was scheduled for the week after her radiation treatments finished.

On the show, Judge gave a shout-out to the San Juan Eagles, a local organization of volunteer pilots who transport islanders to the mainland for cancer treatments free of charge.

“I had just one week earlier finished flying with them,” she said to the Journal. “Every day, a different pilot, a different airplane. It was a lot of fun. They really stood out because of their generosity. They volunteer everything – their planes, their time, no money for fuel even. Any support the community can give them — even just a thank you — would be wonderful.”

George Mulligan, one of the pilots who flew Judge, was thrilled to get to watch her on the show.

“Mary Ellen is a light! She just illuminates the space she’s in,” Mulligan said. “She’s really terrific.”

The San Juan Eagles have been helping cancer patients on the islands since 2002. Patients usually need daily treatment, Monday through Friday, for an average of six weeks. This program makes an otherwise impossible situation tenable for sick islanders.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and you know, I don’t know how many pilots there are today, probably 15, and it’s every bit as much a source of joy for the people doing the flying as it is for the folks that we help out,” Mulligan said. “It’s an interesting dimension of living on an island when you have to go to the mainland every damn day for six weeks to get therapy. Being able to help out with that is a delight for all of us.”

Judge did the Eagles proud after her shout-out, choosing “Phrase” for the bonus puzzle before Seacrest could give her the three options of Phrase, Things, and Fun & Games. Then she solved the puzzle before the timer even started. Seacrest laughed as she celebrated and he had to interrupt her to tell her she had just won a car.

It became a family trip, with her granddaughters, Emma Vielbig and Hannah Jenness accompanying her on the trip to LA. They knew it was a trip bound to happen, the granddaughters said.

“There’s only one Mary Ellen,” Jenness laughed. “She’s a charismatic human and she’s always been a gamer.”

“When I went up to visit her, she was kind of down in the dumps because of her breast cancer spreading, losing her sister and a close friend,” Vielbig remembered. “And there she was, killing it on Wheel of Fortune in her living room. She did great in the interviews, and it was such a whirlwind after that!”

According to Jenness, the radiologists told Judge to take it easy after her treatments, but Grandma chuckled and said she was sorry; she was going to LA instead.

“It was also really fun getting to tell my boss, Hey, can I take a day off? Because I really need to see Grandma on the Wheel,” laughed Vielbig.

The trip was uplifting for everyone, the girls remembered. In between takes, Grandma was chatting it up with Seacrest, even as the production was counting down to start rolling. The staffers and producers told them that everyone on their team loved Judge and knew she’d be a fan favorite. They were right – Reddit exploded with Mary Ellen love and the Wheel of Fortune social media team shared a video of her with the caption: “Mary Ellen is a whole vibe.”

She may be in her 15 minutes of fame, but Judge will always be an islander at heart. When asked for a photo of their trip, Judge said, “Well, you can find my photo up in the halls at Friday Harbor High School!”

Mary Ellen with a San Juan Eagle.