Fifty-three year old disability support worker, Andrea McEwan, from Altona, won $20,000 on Millionaire Hot Seat, with which she plans to open her own counselling business.
Ms McEwan is currently half way through completing her online remote masters degree in counselling through Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia.
“I’m hoping in a year’s time when I graduate to work as a qualified counsellor and possibly open my own business,” she said.
“It would be a dream of mine to work for myself or from home.”
Ms McEwan has always worked in service jobs where she helps people including those with disabilities, domestic violence victims, and chronic pain patients.
“The ideal plan is to put the money towards starting up my own wellness retreat that provides counselling services.”
Ms McEwan applied to be a contestant on the show and heard back fairly quickly to go to a group audition.
“Not long after that I got called in as a standby contestant for one of the tapings, we got to watch three episodes being filmed,” she said.
“We sat in the audience and watched , we didn’t get on that day but it was good fun.”
To prepare for her turn, Ms McEwan said she recorded the show and watched it every night as often as she could.
“I was planning to do lots of trivia research but I didn’t do a great deal, it was all a bit of luck,” she said.
“I bought a few trivia games and started having a look at a few questions too but I did more preparation by watching the show.”
To celebrate, Ms McEwan hosted a family watch party at her house, in addition to receiving an abundance of messages while the show unfolded.
Jennifer Pittorino
