Netflix shows Political Science professor “What’s in the Box?”
December 19, 2025
by Jennifer R. Lloyd (M.B.A. ’16)
Through her long tenure at St. Mary’s University, Pallansch has served as an Associate Professor of Political Science; the director of the University’s Pre-Law Program; and Interim Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Though she plans to retire at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, she has not lost her lust for adventure. While hiking on Mount Rainier in Washington State last summer, Pallansch received an unexpected call. Would she consider appearing alongside her son, Luke Donnelly, who lives in Leander, on a new Netflix game show?
She decided to push her own boundaries and said “Yes” to the request. She was soon bound for London to film alongside the other contestants and the show’s host, well-known actor Neil Patrick Harris. The players competed by answering trivia to win hidden prizes.
After wrapping up filming and then her final semester teaching, Pallansch caught up with Gold & Blue magazine to share her experience.
Q: How did your time with What’s in the Box? come about?
A: I was off this summer hiking on Mount Rainier and trying to get a little fishing in Oregon and Washington State. And my son calls me one evening, and he’s like, “Okay, Mom, just hear me out. Don’t say no.” And he presented this opportunity to interview for a spot on this reality game show, What’s in the Box? Even to this day, I can’t say no to my son. So, my first interview for the show was while I was out there in Washington State. I’m doing this interview on my cell phone with no appropriate interview clothes because I was on a hiking-fishing trip. I just told Luke, “There’s no way we’re going to get selected.” It was a very surreal experience.
Q: Then you flew to London to film over the summer. What was the competition and filming like?
A: It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. The last time I had been on a TV show was when I was a senior in high school. There was a show called It’s Academic. It was kind of like this nerdy competition. What’s in the Box? was amazing. I just keep using the word surreal because it just really was. The whole production set was unbelievably large. The studio was large. The lot where these studio buildings were located was just huge. You have to go into makeup every morning. Obviously, for me, it took longer than probably for other people. I was the oldest contestant. It was very, very funny.
Q: What was it like being the only parent-child team and competing with your son?
A: It was really a lot of fun. I was a little worried because it’s a trivia game. I like trivia. I’m competitive. My son likes trivia. He’s competitive. So, I had some concerns. What would happen if, during the production itself, we disagreed, and if he deferred to me, and I was wrong, and we lost, or I deferred to him, and he was wrong, and we lost? I was worried this would hurt our relationship. We talked about that before we started. We were like, no matter what, we love each other, and we’re going to have fun with this. And we really did. It was very intense.
Q: Did you two have a strategy to play the game?
A: Luke is very into reality TV game shows. He knew all this stuff in advance about these strategies. He even had a little notebook that he brought with him. After a session, he would be jotting down notes, and we would be talking about strategies. Our basic strategy was not to come out too strong because we were afraid that it would set you up as a target for others to want to get rid of you if you were seen as the main competition. We definitely didn’t want to come out too strong, and we wanted to build as many alliances as we could with the other players, so that, if we find ourselves in a tight spot, we have some folks who would look out for us.
Q: That sounds like a political scientist. Did your political science background play a role in this strategy?
A: Yeah, it really did. You understand the importance of building alliances and not putting yourself in a vulnerable place. It also helps just being a faculty member used to working with students because a number of the contestants were younger.
Q: This is just another good reason to major in Political Science to get on a game show and meet Neil Patrick Harris, right? What was he like to work with?
A: He was fantastic. I was really scared, but he is such an easy person to talk with. I got to give him a hug, got to joke with him. He was just, just delightful. He’s the father of twins, and my son just had twin boys just a little over a year ago. So, Neil Patrick Harris and my son, they would do like the twin father discussions. He was just fantastic and a great host.
Q: What’s your biggest takeaway from the experience?
A: My big takeaway is that I don’t think I’m cut out for reality TV shows. The emotional highs and lows are exhausting.
Q: Which is more difficult, being on a game show or running a school as an interim dean?
A: There are a lot of similarities, a lot of unexpected things, a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Things that you thought were going to be easy turn out to be much harder than you anticipated. I can tell you that I laughed a lot more on the show What’s in the Box? than I did while being interim dean.
*This transcript was edited for length and clarity.
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