Syfy's Winner Hopes to Hop to Australia

Fact was stranger than science fiction at the Syfy upfront Tuesday night for one media buyer who’s about take the trip of a lifetime.

Syfy President David Howe told the audience at the Museum of Natural History that the network would be giving away around-the-world upper class tickets for two on Virgin Airlines.

And when Elsa Schlosser’s name was called at the end of the presentation, she couldn’t believe her ears.

“I didn’t hear him say my name,” she recalled. The people around her told her “you just won a trip around the world.”

As she exited the theater, more than 20 people came up to her and congratulated her. “I never knew I knew so many people in the industry,” said Schlosser, VP, broadcast group director at ZenithOptimedia Direct, where she’s worked for seven years.

“It was very exciting. I’ve never won anything. Not even $2 in the lottery” she said, adding that texts and emails started pouring in. Wednesday morning, she couldn’t tell anyone at work about her prize. Everyone already knew.

Schlosser says she hasn’t yet received all the details about her prize, including exactly how long the trip will be or precisely where she’ll be able to go.

She plans to go with her husband. They’ve got five children and they usually travel with their youngest. But on this trip, they’ll fly solo.

One place she’s always wanted to visit is Australia. That’s at least half-way around the world.

Schlosser says that at work, she regularly buys Syfy and the other NBCUniversal cable networks for her clients. Is she an igniter, one of those consumers who try new things first and tell the world about them that Syfy says watch the channel? “At one time or another, we’re all igniters,” she said.