Des Plaines, Bensenville residents compete on 'Millionaire'

Robert Ziecik, an advertising manager from Des Plaines, and Sara Hoskins, a stay-at-home mom from Bensenville, are competing this week on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.”

Ziecik is a contestant on the episode airing 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, on WGN. He will continue his appearance as a holdover contestant on Friday's show. Immediately after he finishes, Hoskins will be on the show.

Ziecik, 29, is the son of Genevieve and Stanley Ziecik of Des Plaines and is a 2001 graduate of Prospect High School. Ziecik, who is taking improv classes at Second City, learned to speak English watching television after his parents came to the U.S. with “one suitcase and $50 in their pockets,” according to the news release. If he won big, he would use his winnings to travel, start his own marketing business, give money to his parents and open a self-defense school.

Hoskins, 31, and her husband, Steven, have a young daughter Nora. They've been living with her mother, Liz Szymanski, for several years since they both lost their jobs, according to the news release. Her husband has since gone back to work, but a big win would let them get a “cute little SUV” to cart her newly expanding family around, make a down payment on a house and take her mom on a trip.