Butler woman wins big
For the second time this fall, a Butler County resident has won big on a national TV game show.
Jack Swidzinski, 52, of Butler Township won more than $30,000 in prizes on "The Price is Right," which aired Sept. 28 on CBS.
On Tuesday's episode of NBC's daytime show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," Michelle Figler, 23, of Butler won $50,000.
"Wow," she kept repeating as she advanced through the series of questions.
On Monday's show, she started in the hot seat and made it through the $1,000 question.
When Tuesday's episode began, she breezed through the $2,000 question by guessing that canned baked beans were made with Navy beans.
"I don't like baked beans, but my mother makes them awesome," she said.
She resorted to using her "Ask the Audience" lifeline for the next question, for $4,000.
The question asked what a tennis serve was called that hits the net but lands in the correct court.
She said she doesn't play tennis, but her husband, Peter, who was in the audience, does.
Sixty-seven percent of the audience chose answer C. "Let."
"I'm going to trust the audience," she said.
Her husband nodded in approval.
"Yes, C., It's let," host Meredith Vieira said.
For the $8,000 question, Figler figured correctly that if you are 48 years old and your spouse is 39, you were 18 when you were half the spouse's age.
For the $16,000 question, Figler used her second lifeline and called her father and asked what the green corrosion on copper, such as the Statue of Liberty was called.
He chose patina, but wasn't sure.
"He said he wasn't sure, but he was right," Vieira said.
The next question, for $25,000 asked what body of water bordered Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"I hate to do it, but I'm going to use the 50-50," she said.
That narrowed it down to A. the Barents Sea, or D. the Baltic Sea.
She guessed D. the Baltic.
"Correct," Vieira said.
"Wow," Figler said.
The $50,000 question asked who wrote the story the movie, "Brokeback Mountain" was based on.
"I have absolutely no idea, so I'm going to "Switch The Question," another lifeline.
The new question asked what part of the body is also called pharyngeal tonsils, A. adenoids, B. taste buds, C. sinuses, or D. vocal cords.
"I'm going to say A. adenoids. Final answer."
She was right.
"Wow," she said and shook hands with Vieira before a break.
"We're back with Michelle Figler who keeps saying 'Wow,'" Vieira said when the show resumed. "Whatever you're doing, you're doing a great job."
Vieira asked Figler what kind of car she would like.
"A Volkswagen Bug, yellow with a sunroof," she said.
Then came the $100,000 question: "What U.S. president's wife was nicknamed 'Lemonade Lucy' after alcohol was banned from the White House?"
"I don't know," Figler said. "I couldn't even take a guess. I'm just going to take the money."
Figler is a student at BC3 majoring in secondary education and a 2001 graduate of Karns City High School. Attempts to reach her by telephone Tuesday were unsuccessful.
