Why Recent SuperPrize Winner Holly Bloom Didn’t Look So Surprised!

Ok, faithful blog readers, brace yourself for this one!  This isn’t your usual winner follow-up interview! I promise you, everything you read in this blog post is straight from the winner’s mouth! I just got off the phone with our recent SuperPrize winner Holly Bloom, and she told me her incredible personal story that I just had to share!

I’ve done more winner follow-up interviews than I can count, but I always ask the same types of questions: “What were you thinking when the Prize Patrol showed up?” or “How long have you been entering at PCH?” or “What do you plan on doing with the money?”  Well, the one question I always ask first is, “Did you have a funny feeling that something different was going to happen that day?”

Normally the answer is, “No, it felt like every other day!” That’s usually because the experience is so incredible, that everything before it seems tame in comparison. But what I wasn’t counting on was Holly Bloom’s response! She said, “I felt a little different. It was weird! I almost wanted to call out of work. I didn’t know what it was … some intuitive thing!”  You see, she had recently shared with some co-workers that an online psychic told her she’d come into a windfall of money! So when she won, she wasn’t 100% surprised. In fact she said, “I’ve seen the video of me. It looks like I’m not excited at all!”

100% surprised. In fact she said, “I’ve seen the video of me. It looks like I’m not excited at all!”

Here’s Holly’s winning moment in Florida, so see if you don’t agree!

“I didn’t know how to react! I didn’t even know what my name was. I thought about what the psychic said, and I thought ‘no way, she was actually right!’”

A psychic message like that must have been really good news for someone like Holly. She’s been on her own since the age of 18, paying her own rent and working a fulltime job to put herself through college. It’s this hard work attitude that she’s stuck with even after winning an incredible $1 Million SuperPrize.

“I went back to work immediately after finding out!”

But she and her husband DID take some time to recuperate after getting the big check. The two of them went away to a friend’s hotel for the weekend, and the owner wouldn’t let them pay. “You still need to save money and be frugal,” she said! Of course, even when they hid out on the Florida beach with drinks and appetizers, folks still recognized her from her photo in the local paper! I bet she wished she had a psychic message about that too!

While it all seemed like a whirlwind, it’s finally starting to sink in. As more of her friends have learned about her good fortune, the more real it has become. Also, meeting with a financial advisor has helped a great deal.

“My friends were really happy for me. One was crying. It didn’t really hit me until other people knew about it, that’s when it really sunk in. Especially when we spoke with a financial advisor. We were able to pay bills off! That’s amazing! That’s when it really settled in.”

We asked her what her plans were for the money, and as Dave Sayer mentioned, she’ll be helping out with Junior Achievement.

“I met with their organization this past Friday, and I told them about my struggles growing up, winning this money, and also knowing that I still have to work and be productive in the community. I have to make the most of this money and not be stupid with it. Junior Achievement does a lot with young adults, and they teach classes dealing with real-life situations. I want to be able to share my experiences, like how I taught myself to get through the hardships I’ve been through … how I had to protect myself.”

We’re so proud of Holly’s involvement with such a great organization, and Junior Achievement agrees! In fact, Holly tells us that she’s been invited to be a guest speaker at their Hall of Fame in Busch Gardens this March!

I’m sure we all wish we received the same psychic message that Holly says she got, right? But one thing’s for sure, she wouldn’t have ever won any money from Publishers Clearing House if she hadn’t been entering! So make sure you’re “in it to win it,” taking advantage of all of our opportunities. You never know when fate might be calling!

Matt K.
PCH Creative

P.S. – Have you ever felt like something special was going to happen, and it actually came true? Tell us in the comments below!