MUM’S $20K QUIZ WIN
JODIE Walsh isn’t a fan of the limelight.
So, while five minutes of fame and fun gleaned as a contestant on a television game show would be a dream come true for some, the Belmont single mum found the experience far from fabulous.
But she’d do it all again. Not only for the $20,000 payday she received as a weeknight winner on Channel Seven’s Million Dollar Minute, but for the unbridled joy her efforts have brought to daughter Phoebe, who lives with Asperger's and severe anxiety, and rarely flashes a smile.
It was Phoebe, 19, who encouraged her mum to send in an application and who master minded her winning strategy, which played out on TV screens across the country last night.
“With Asperger's, Phoebe likes everything to be planned out and so she created a whole strategy for exactly how I needed to play the game,” Ms Walsh said.
“I led the whole game, and at a couple of points they offered me $2000 to give up my lead, but I told them I was under strict instructions not to take it.
“Phoebe told me that she knew I could win the $20,000, and that if I did, it was enough and that I shouldn’t try to play on the next night to win more. I did exactly what she said.”
Ms Walsh, a careers counsellor, plans to use part of her winnings to take her Harry Potter obsessed daughter on a magical holiday to Harry Potter World in Orlando, Florida; a trip she thought may never be possible.
“We were planning on going for her 16th birthday, but she became quite ill ... people with Asperger's quite commonly also have anxiety which can cause depression and she went through a really difficult time which meant we weren't able to go,” Ms Walsh recalled.
“I used all my sick leave and holiday pay having to be home and I had to leave work eventually because things got so serious. I’ve only gone back to work part time in the past 12 months and it’s hard to save. This money means we can have that dream holiday and it’s also given Phoebe a goal to work towards.”
Ms Walsh filmed the episode late last year and admitted she had been out- smarted when it came to keeping the outcome a secret.
“Even as I walked in the door after filming I wasn’t going to tell Phoebe, and when she asked how it went I said I’d signed a confidentiality agreement and wasn’t allowed to tell her,” she said.
“She asked if I’d won and I told her again I’d signed the confidentiality agreement but she just knew. She jumped up and down. She was so excited. There were definitely a few tears.
“It was a day of anxiety, nerves and discomfort for me, but anyone would go through that regardless of the money to get that reaction from someone they love who isn’t the happiest person in the world. To see her that happy made it all worthwhile.”
“We were planning on going for her 16th birthday (to Harry Potter World), but she became quite ill.”
JODIE WALSH