Interview with $1 Million PCH Winner Mike Flaherty!
Every time we make a new PCH Winner here at the “House Where Dreams Come True,” the list just keeps getting longer, so it’s hard to make a ranking of your Top Ten. We’ve had plenty of screamers, criers and some just simply dumbfounded, so it’s hard to pick who might be among the best. But when you talk about winners who are just downright funny, our most recent PCH winner Mike Flaherty surely takes the cake!
Why don’t you just watch his winning moment below and see how he puts the Prize Patrol in stitches!
I think it’s fair to say that Mike was over the moon about becoming a PCH winner, and when I spoke to him today, his enthusiasm hadn’t disappeared one bit!
“I never doubted it was real!” he exclaimed. “I mean in your mind, it’s always going to be somebody else. But I kept entering.”
Mike says he’s been entering since the 1970s, which means he’s been faithful for over 40 years! He says that entering online has made things a lot easier, but he seems to do it in quick bursts.
“It depends on where I’m working. I’m doing about a week of work a month, but I end up traveling to do it. Right now I’m in Arizona as a consultant at a power plant.”
Mike was a 27-year veteran of the US Coast Guard and has seen the world, but he’s always taken PCH with him, even down to Puerto Rico! Even though he’s a bit of a globetrotter, his wife never got to share in the experience with him. But now she can!
“I travel a lot for work, but my wife and I try and go out and about a couple of times a year. We like to take a cruise once a year, so we’ll certainly be able to do more of that. But maybe a trip to Europe soon! She hasn’t been to the countries I’ve been to, so it’d be nice to show her those places I’ve already seen. I’m sure a lot has changed!”
In his winning moment, Mike talked about selling his home in Florida and getting a beach place. That hasn’t quite happened yet, but he already made his first big PCH winner purchase – a beautiful Ford F150!
Speaking of driving, Mike almost wasn’t at home when the Prize Patrol showed up!
“I had intended to leave early that morning to go to my daughter’s house to pick up my grandchildren, but my washing machine had broken down. So, I thought ‘before I leave town, I’ll fix it. Otherwise I would have been long gone. So, I just finished that up and was having a bite to eat with my stepson when the doorbell rang. It was kind of crazy. Certainly unexpected!”
Mike was just as fun to talk to on the phone as he was in person with the Prize Patrol, so we wouldn’t let him hang up until we got some advice for all of you PCH Winner hopefuls out there!
“I would say, don’t give up! You never know when they knock on your door. It’s like the lottery – if you don’t buy a ticket, you’re not going to win. I’m continuing to enter now! I’m just glad I won – the amount isn’t a big deal! As I said to Danelle, ‘it doesn’t really matter. It’s more than I had yesterday!’”
So make sure you take Mike’s advice. Enter today! And remember, PCH is always 100% FREE! You don’t need to buy a lottery ticket to be “in it to win it” at PCH. So make it happen!
Matt “The Stat Man” Kelly
PCH Creative
