The Prize Patrol Shares Favorite Winning Moments From A Year of Winning!
What a year 2017 has been at Publishers Clearing House! It’s always so much fun to look back on our favorite winning moments, and this year we decided to ask the Prize Patrol for some of theirs.
Todd had this to say:
My favorite Prize Patrol of the year was Fran Charger who won $1,000,000. Not only was this a sweet and touching winning moment, the winner happened to live in Suffern, New York – the town I grew up in!
Danielle had this to share:
My favorite winning moment of 2017 was Patricia who just won the Ford Explorer Platinum car contest. Patricia is a super PCH fan who knew our names and everything about the Prize Patrol as soon as we showed up. It was so great getting to surprise someone who has been such a loyal PCH fan for so many years. It was also a blast getting to meet her family and animal family. We got to hold the ducks and the dog and even take care of a tiny wee-old kitten.
And Dave Sayer recalled several! First was Paul Wischusen, who hasn’t been featured yet here on the PCH blog, but you can watch his winning moment below!
Dave fondly recalls:
Paul Wischhusen of Florida had one of my favorite winning moments — because it had three great elements: (1) Tremendous excitement as his wife Jill shrieked when she opened the door and saw the Prize Patrol standing there, (2) The heartwarming thrill when stroke-victim, wheelchair-bound Paul accepted the Big Check for $10,000 with tears in his eyes and simply could not believe it, and (3) The congratulatory applause of neighbors celebrating Paul’s good fortune.
Everyone can agree that one of our favorite winning moments this year was our “Forever” Prize winner Ora Gayton. I had the pleasure of interviewing her for the blog (and also for a future segment on Inside PCH), and to say that this retiree is full of energy is an understatement! I’ll let Dave Sayer give you his perspective on Ora’s winning moment:
I don’t recall ever feeling as much tension and excitement as when the Prize Patrol, reporters and neighbors jammed into the tight quarters outside Ora Gayton’s South Chicago apartment door. Seconds later we were all rewarded with screams of shock, disbelief and delight when Ora (a feisty nonagenarian) and her daughter opened the door and were presented with a Big Check naming Ora the Winner of our “Forever Prize” — meaning she can enjoy $5,000 a week for the rest of her life — and after that someone she names receives $5,000 a week for the rest of his or her life.
As you can see, big reactions and personalities always make for a memorable Prize Patrol moment. But sometimes locales are also a part of the equation! Recent winner Jane Goodwin was awarded her prize at a local harbor after returning home by boat! You have to see it to believe it!
Dave chimes in again:
As a crowd-pleaser it will be hard to beat the jubilation surrounding the winning moment of Million Dollar SuperPrize winner Jane Goodwin. We surprised Jane — and about a hundred other sea-going passengers — as they disembarked from a boat sailing from Cape Cod’s Provincetown to Plymouth, Mass. Jane was as shocked as everyone else to see the Prize Patrol waiting on the dock with roses, balloons and The Big Check. Most of the people couldn’t believe their eyes — they had only seen things like this in our TV commercials. But Jane was such a PCH super-fan she knew us by name and realized instantly that this was “for real.”
As amazing as these winning moments are, they really just scratch the surface of all of our fantastic giveaways that began this past January! We’ll have a recap blog coming up soon to highlight the rest, and to let you know our grand total of giveaways for the year. It’s been a big one! See you then!
Matt K.
PCH Creative
P.S. – Do you have any winners from this past year that have been YOUR personal favorites? Tell us in the comments section below!
