UNC alumna Amber Cushing said being a contestant on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” was an item on her bucket list — one that she was able to check off Monday.
Cushing, who graduated from the School of Information and Library Science in 2012, left the show with $25,250 after correctly answering six questions.
She ultimately walked away from the game when she was given a question involving math, which she said she isn’t good at.
“My checkbook never even balances to the penny — I’m not one of those people,” she said. “So there was probably no chance of me answering that.”
Cushing said she wished she could’ve gone further in the game, but was glad she left with something.
She said she will use her winnings to pay off student loans and credit card debt, and have some fun.
“I’m reserving just a little bit to do fun things with,” she said.
Sharon Wilson, Cushing’s mom, said she wasn’t surprised at all to learn that Cushing would be trying out for the show.
“She is very outgoing and loves to try new things,” she said. “Seemed like she was always off to Europe on internships abroad.”
Wilson said she was confident that Cushing would make it onto the show because she said she has the capacity to retain everything she learns or reads.
Wilson also said she thought Cushing had some really tough questions.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Really? Where are the easy questions like everyone before her had!’” she said, adding that she thought Cushing did very well considering the degree of difficulty in her questions.
Cushing said the one thing she regrets is using a lifeline on her second question, which asked what object a woman on TLC’s “My Strange Addiction” who suffered from pica disorder had eaten seven of.
“Using a lifeline on that was the one thing I regret because I was 90% sure it was couches,” she said.
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