N. Cambria woman wins trip from ‘Regis and Kelly’ show

By Kristy MacKaben, For the Mirror
When the phone rang at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Brenda Cameron of Northern Cambria never imagined the “Live with Regis and Kelly” morning show was on the other end.

Cameron, who had stayed up late the night before, didn’t answer the phone the first time it rang. Luckily for her, the folks at the show, which airs on NBC, gave her another shot and called back a few minutes later.

“I said, ‘hello’ in a very tired voice. Then I heard those words, ‘Regis and Kelly,’” Cameron said, which perked her up.

Representatives from the show were calling to tell her she was chosen as the travel trivia contestant, and they would be calling her back before the 9 a.m. show started.

Cameron’s trivia question was “Who is Eric Dane married to?” She answered Rebecca Gayheart, which won her a trip for two to Antigua, an island in the eastern Caribbean.

“I’m still in disbelief. I haven’t been able to eat all day,” Cameron said.

The travel trivia question usually is based on guests who appeared on the show the day before.

“On Monday, we were getting ready to do errands in Altoona, so I had the TV on. I wasn’t sitting paying attention. It was just lucky that I knew the answer because I wasn’t sitting and taking notes or anything,” she said. ‘‘It’s just such a rush. When I won, I was jumping around and acting like an idiot.”

Talking to Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa was a little nerve-wracking, but she said they made it fun.

As a disc jockey with Juke Box Express, a professional disc jockey company she owns with her husband, Larry, she is used to talking to people.

Before she was asked the trivia question, Cameron talked a little about herself and her hometown.

‘‘I told them that we actually live close to Indiana, the home of Jimmy Stewart, Stewart Hardware and the Jimmy Stewart Museum. I knew Regis would like that, and Indiana is pretty proud of that,” she said.

Jimmy Stewart Museum Executive Director Tim Harley said he was pleased the museum was mentioned on national TV because there is a celebration planned May 24 for what would have been Stewart’s 100th birthday.

‘‘I’m really thrilled. This year is the centennial of Mr. Stewart’s birth. We’re having a big festivity coming up,” Harley said. ‘‘We’re just happy any time people take an opportunity to keep Mr. Stewart’s memory alive.”

Cameron, who has a 28-year-old son, Chris, and an 18-year-old daughter, Emily, plans to take her husband on the trip.

Her husband was the one who registered his wife’s name online for a chance to be the travel trivia contestant.

In addition to her win, she selected an audience member to win a prize by picking a number from one to 150.

“I picked number 13 because I was born on Friday the 13th,” Cameron said.

Number 13 in the audience was a nun from Little Sisters of the Poor in Baltimore. She won a $500 gift certificate to Cooking.com.

“The nun was great because she was a very happy, jolly person. And on the show, she said she begs for money for the poor,” Cameron said. “That was kind of neat that she won.”