Willow Springs Real Estate Agent Finds Fun, If Not Fortune, On TV’s ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’

It was an exciting few days in New York for Willow Springs real estate agent Linda Saracco when she was chosen to be a contestant on the popular TV show, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Saracco is a sales associate at RE/MAX Market in Willow Springs, Ill., which is part of RE/MAX Northern Illinois, the Chicago real estate leaders.

Her TV adventure started late last summer when she received, within minutes of each other, calls from two relatives urging her to attend a Chicago-area audition for a special once-a-year version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in which the questions are all about the movies. Saracco is legendary among friends and family for her encyclopedic knowledge of films.

To qualify for the show, Saracco joined 4,000 would-be contestants to audition on a rainy day. She took and passed two tests, one for the special movie edition of the show, which is co-sponsored by Netflix, and another for the regular version of the program. Then, over a five-week period, she went through a range of additional tests and interviews before learning she was one of 10 potential contestants who would be invited to New York. The 10 were selected from among 20,000 who auditioned around the country for the Netflix show.
However, not all 10 contestants were guaranteed a chance to play because of time limitations. Saracco never got the chance to sit in the Hot Seat, as the contestants’ chair is called on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” but because she also had qualified to play the regular version of the game, the producers offered her a chance to do that the next day.

“I felt very fortunate to get that opportunity, but I hadn’t prepared at all for the regular version of the game,” Saracco recalled. “All my studying had been for the movie version, and all the folks I had lined up as potential phone-a-friends were also people whose expertise was in movies. But my family came to the rescue and found several people who would sit home the next day and be ready to offer help if I called.”

When the game began, Saracco progressed smoothly, successfully answering the first eight questions. Then, she was asked to which of four musical instruments the word “tantara” would apply. As it turned out, Saracco’s lifelines didn’t help her puzzle out the answer, and she decided to take her $8,000 in winnings and depart. By the way, tantara is the word for the blast of a trumpet or other horn.

“I relished the experience of qualifying for and playing the game and met a lot of terrific people, especially some of the other contestants,” Saracco said.
When the show on which she appeared finally was aired this May, Saracco and her friends and family held a viewing party at a local restaurant to celebrate.

“That made the whole thing an even more memorable experience,” said Saracco. “In the final analysis, the money wasn’t that important though it was nice to win enough to cover my expenses. It was just a lot of fun all around.”