Kriti Mehrotra
As a game show that features a series of trivia rounds testing the smarts and strategies of eight unique pairs of contestants at every turn, Netflix’s ‘What’s in the Box?’ breaks all bounds of the genre. It truly is a high-stakes original with life-changing prizes, but it is also complex because players must navigate not only the quiz but also wildcards, decoys, alliances, and more. Amongst those to thus partake here are Leona Pallansch and Luke Donnelly, a mother-son duo who always shared a tight-knit relationship but became even closer following a deep loss.
Leona and Luke’s Competitive Nature Earned Them Their Dream Experiences
From the moment Leona and Luke came across our screens, they made it clear that they were like two peas in a pod who really came together after the death of her husband/his father. The former once told Tudum, “We work very well as a team, having known each other, literally, for our entire lives. This… is a chance to spend time and try to accomplish something together.” She had expressed similar sentiments in the series, to which her son added that they are also “very competitive” and have even gone as far as to often play in the same soccer (football) team.
Luke further shared that one of the matches actually had to be called off because so many fights had broken out, but they weren’t the ones fighting. They “might have been causing the fights (between the teams), but we weren’t fighting,” he cheekily asserted alongside his mother, who agreed. In other words, when the duo was cast to be on this once-in-a-lifetime show, they were determined not to walk away empty-handed, and they didn’t. They won arguably their two dream prizes: a feast experience with celebrity chef David Chang in Los Angeles, complete with kitchen appliances, and a global sports tour that included a Formula 1 experience in the US, access to the UEFA Champions League final in Budapest, as well as all-access attendance to the 154th Open Golf Championship in England.
Leona Pallansch Has a Reputable Career in the Education Sector
Although a proud native of Arlington, Virginia, Leona has been residing in San Antonio, Texas, for at least the past 28 years, considering her association with St. Mary’s University. From what we can tell, she pursued her Bachelor’s degree in Government & Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia, followed by her Master’s in the same field from Georgetown University. She then chose to continue her studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, from where she obtained her Ph.D after a dissertation on the relationship between foreign assistance and the behavior of recipient governments. Only later did she kick-start her career at St. Mary’s University in 1998.
The Doctor, as well as a happily married family woman, began her professional path as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in August 1998 before being promoted to Associate Professor two years later. According to records, Leona maintains this position as of writing, but she has also held several other titles and handled a lot more responsibilities along the way. She served as an Associate Provost for Assessment, Curriculum, and Faculty from July 2008 to May 2016, following which she moved on to become the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs until May 2019. She then spread her wings as the Interim Dean at the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, right until she was promoted to the coveted position of Director of the Pre-Law Program in June 2023.
Therefore, today, Leona is not only a widow, a mother, a grandmother, and a competitive trivia and sports enthusiast, but she is also an Associate Professor and Director at St. Mary’s University. It’s imperative to note that she teaches a variety of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, with her specialization being ethical issues in globalization, gender studies, and international relations. Moreover, we should mention that over the years, Leona has also published several papers and held a myriad of seminars/workshops, all the while also being a part of institutions such as the American Political Science Association (1998-2008), International Studies Association (1998-2010), and the Association for Institutional Research (2014-Present).
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Luke Donnelly is a Proud Stay-at-Home Dad
While Luke grew up in Texas, he wanted to pursue his higher-level studies from out of state, so he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Colorado State University in 2017. He subsequently returned to his homeland but settled down a little away from his family home in Austin, Texas, as he landed the role of a Business Analyst at Gerson Lehrman Group in October 2018. Prior to this, he served as a Network Analyst at the Eaton School District RE-2 in Eaton, Colorado, while also studying full-time from May 2016 to August 2017. Things changed for him in June 2019, though, when he joined Apple as a Business System Analyst before moving on to become a Data Analyst at Meta in July 2021. He remained there until July 2023.
Most recently, Luke served as a Data Operations Analyst at Small Business Financial Exchange Inc. from October 2023 to May 2025. He has since decided to take a break from his career and be there for the love of his life as well as their newborn twins, ensuring he doesn’t miss any key moments. He had tied the knot with the woman of his dreams in a cozy, intimate ceremony on May 6, 2023, and the couple has since been building a beautiful life together in Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, we do not know much else about their personal experiences as of writing because the proud stay-at-home father prefers to keep such details well away from the limelight.
