Did You Know? The Prize Patrol Once Traveled by Dog Sled!
When you work for Publishers Clearing House, you get several common questions all the time! People love to ask, “is it real?” Or “how do you give away all that money?” We’ve covered those questions before, but I think one of the most fun ones to answer are questions like, “what do you do if you can’t get to the winner?” Well,0 today we’re going to talk about a time where the Prize Patrol really showed everyone just how dedicated they are!
Second only to showing up at the winner’s home with the Big Check, there’s nothing more exciting for the Prize Patrol than finding out who the winner is! In today’s digital age, it is very easy for the Prize Patrol to plot a map, schedule flights, and even look up the winner on social media! But back in 1994, we didn’t have all of these fancy tools! All we had were maps and the advice of travel agencies. So when Todd and Dave saw that their latest $10,000.00 winner was from Soldotna, Alaska, it really got their head scratching as to how to pull this off!
You see, Soldotna is located in southern Alaska. According to the 1990 census, the population was just under 3,500, so you could certainly call it a small town! It’s not without its charms and historic interest, but just about ANY small town in Alaska is going to be quite a trip when you’re traveling from New York!
After doing their research, Todd and Dave realized that their $10,000.00 prize winner, Mary Fay, was in a fairly remote section of Soldotna, outside of town. That would mean they’d need to go off road, through the snow! They weighed their options and knew they’d need snowmobiles to bring all of their gear, but another unique opportunity presented itself: a dog sled team!
Watch the historic behind the scenes video HERE!
As you can see the state of Alaska gave the Prize Patrol a warm welcome—anything but chilly! They found their snow friendly canines, loaded them up on the sled and got on their way! You can almost hear them yelling, “Mush Mush!”
Mary’s reaction is certainly priceless. She wonders if it is a prank, and has to stop herself from getting too colorful! But even SHE can’t believe that the Prize Patrol came all the way to Soldotna! But as Todd says, “We came from New York and we’re here!” Dave quickly follows it up with “It’s on the map!”
Well it’s certainly on the map, but they say on the video “I don’t believe it! In the middle of the woods. In the middle of the woods…in Alaska!” It was a challenge to find, but the experience was certainly worthwhile. In fact, the raw footage you saw above was even featured in a Publishers Clearing House commercial!
So hopefully this is proof positive that the Prize Patrol will go ANYWHERE that they have to in order to deliver their prizes! Whether the person is in the remote reaches of Alaska or in the hill country of America, the Prize Patrol will find them!
Matt K.
PCH Creative
P.S. Do you feel like you live in the middle of “nowhere”? What would the Prize Patrol have to do in order to get to your home? Tell us in the comments below!
