Cedar Rapids woman wins vacation to Mexico from ABC TV show

Mary Scallon of Cedar Rapids is going to force herself to relax, now that she has been named the final winner in the Passport to Paradise contest on the ABC's 'Strahan, Sara and Keke,” which airs at noon in Eastern Iowa.

Told she was a finalist and would be FaceTiming with the show's producers Monday morning, instead, she got a surprise visit from Nicole Agee from KCRG, saying she had won.

Her prize is a five-night, six-day all-inclusive stay at the Towers at Pacifica resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In her submission video, Scallon said she's known as 'the number 1 volunteer” at her kids' schools.

'I bake, I cheer, I volunteer,” she said. 'My kids joke with me and say, ‘Mom, you can't sit still for anything.'”

She added that with her husband set for knee-replacement surgery in four weeks, she needs the vacation 'now.”

Upon learning she had won, she assured the television audience: 'I'm going to be relieved. I'm going to actually relax. I think I'm going to relax. I'm going to try my hardest to relax. This is great. I'm just so happy.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com