A Mayo farmer didn’t let a recent hip operation get in the way of spinning the iconic Winning Streak wheel last Saturday and winning a total of €42,000 on the National Lottery game show on RTÉ One last Saturday.
Chris Tansey, from Swinford, is feeling spritely despite undergoing surgery to replace a hip in December. He said that the Winning Streak experience was an uplifting experience for him and his family.
He revealed his daughter, Corrina, gave him a gift of the lucky Winning Streak scratch card which landed him an appearance on the popular game show when he came out of hospital after his operation.
The Mayo man, who was watching the show with his wife Irene and granddaughter, Shauna, when his name came out a fortnight ago, said he has been drowning in phone calls, good luck cards, letters, messages and good wishes and he has been on cloud nine all week.
Married for 43 years Chris has four adult children - Damien, Adrian, Nicola and Corrina, all of whom were in the Winning Streak studio on Saturday to cheer him on. He is also a proud granddad and several of his 12 grandchildren cheered him on from the audience.
A farmer who raises suckler calves his two sons have been helping him on the farm since his surgery. Chris loves all types of sport whether its soccer, rugby, GAA, boxing or racing and admits if a sport is on TV he will watch it! He is a big Mayo GAA fan and remains hopeful of Sam Maguire coming home to Mayo, even if he has been heartbroken so many times in recent years!
He has no plans for his winnings yet and will wait for the dust to settle on his Winning Streak appearance before he begins thinking of how to spend it!
