Newtown Woman Reveals She ‘Wants To Be A Millionaire’

By Steve Bigham

Who wants to be a millionaire? Newtown resident Joanne Osmolik will have a chance to become one later this month when she competes on the television game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Joanne got the call she was waiting for August 31 from ABC informing her of her selection. She will be on the air with host Regis Philbin and nine other finalists September 24. The actual filming of the hour-long show takes place next Thursday.

“My nine-year-old son Steven goes to Middle Gate School. He came home and said ‘mom, I told all the kids at school, but nobody believes me,’” she said Wednesday.

A limousine is scheduled to pick up Joanne and her boyfriend, Bob Rinaldi, the day before the taping. She will arrive at the ABC studios armed with a strong knowledge in the areas of science (her father is a retired chemist), current events, geography, and music.

Newtown’s first-ever representative on the popular TV show says she will need to rely on her good eye-hand coordination and plenty of common sense. She hopes to cash in despite not being much of a non-fiction reader.

Joanne works full-time for the chairman of the Department of Medicine at Bridgeport Hospital. You can also find her behind the deli counter at the Newtown General Store on Sunday mornings.

“I always watched Jeopardy and people always said I should go on the show. Last year I called and answered three questions. They said they would call me back if I was selected,” Ms Osmolik, 40, said this week.

But no one ever called. Last month, however, she tried again, answering three timed questions where she had to put names of authors, musical groups, etc, in order. This time ABC officials called back to say she was one of 40 people selected (out of 240,000 entrants) from across the country to take part in the semifinal round.

“They called me and said I had been selected and that I had to call to get the questions between 3 and 3:15 pm on August 31. They gave me a PIN number and special 1-800 number and date and time to call,” she explained.

Joanne went to work last Thursday and admits she grew nervous by 2 pm. At 3 pm, she made the call and was asked to answer five recorded questions.

“I guess I got them all right. At 5:55 pm that day I got the call. They said ‘you’re on the show,’” she recalled.

It was a stroke of good luck that followed a streak of bad luck for Joanne and her family. First, the home she and her boyfriend Bob bought along South Main Street near Leo’s was gutted by fire. Then, a tree fell on their home during a violent storm this past June. Finally, Joanne’s parked car was “totaled” after being hit by another car driven by a man who suffered a fatal heart attack while behind the wheel.

“It was just a string of bad luck, but other than that we love Newtown,” she said.

And Joanne Osmolik, who grew up in Trumbull, says she will be proud to include Newtown under her name when she finally goes on the air next week.

 Joanne has selected her five “life lines” – people she can call if she gets stumped on a particular question. Her list is impressive. First, there is shaving razor mogul Victor Kiam (for whom she once worked). Mr Kiam, who also once owned the New England Patriots, will be called upon to answer any business-oriented questions. For sports, Joanne will contact a sports radio newscaster from Chicago. For movies, she can rely on the president of the American Film Association, and for medicine, her boss, Dr Nicholas Daimak, who has studied the effects of the Chernobyl disaster, researching cancer as it relates to radiation.

Joanne will also count on her mother, Barbara Topolski, a Brown graduate, who is a self-proclaimed crossword fanatic and a great cook.

  No doubt, Newtown residents will be glued to their seats September 24 to cheer on one of their own.