Two Bears appear on American Idol, three on Wheel of Fortune

During January and February, two Baylor Bears appeared on season 13 of American Idol, with both making it past the first round to go on to Hollywood.

Savion Wright, a senior medical humanities major from Jasper, Texas, was featured on the season debut and nearly made the top 31. He has performed at Common Grounds, in Baylor Chapel, in recent Homecoming parades, and with Baylor’s student-run label, Uproar Records.

Thomasville, Ga., native Bryan Watt, BM ’08, also advanced to Hollywood. After graduating from Baylor’s School of Music with a degree in church music and vocal performance, Watt earned his master’s in music at Belmont University. In addition to his performing career, Watt is executive director of Inside Out Nation, an evangelistic teaching and worship ministry, and co-founder of Project Backyard, a service project initiative aimed at providing regular opportunities for Christians to serve in their own cities and towns.

Baylor grads Deanna Senaratne, BS ’13, and Charlene Gibson, BA ’00, MA ’02, didn’t overlap during their times at Baylor, but met while taping and appeared on two separate Wheel Of Fortune episodes in March.

“I was talking to other contestants in our taping group,” Senaratne remembers. “Someone asked me where I went to college, and I said ‘Baylor.’ All of a sudden, I heard someone say, ‘Who just said Baylor?’ It was Charlene. We hugged and started talking. Just the fact that another Baylor grad was there was awesome.”

Senartne took home $4,350 on March 7, and Gibson finished with $4,400 on March 19. Omari Williams, a senior theater performance major, followed in an episode on April 8 and came away the show winner taking home $14,049 in cash and prizes. You can find the episodes on YouTube.