"I wasn't going to answer it as I didn't recognise the number," she said.
But she did answer it, and was greeted by caller Amanda Dawson, brand engagement manager for the company, who was delighted to tell her she had made the final three in the competition.
This immediately meant she would walk away with a nice four-figure sum as it was $5000 for first, $2000 for second and $1000 for third.
"The nerves kicked in and I hardly slept that night," Ms Taiaroa said.
So she joined Richelle Villanuena and Saadia Ali, both from Napier, for the cracker draw.
Each had to answer five Christmas questions, posed live on air, with the winner getting the first choice of which cracker to pull — the pink, the silver or the gold.
Ms Villanuena scored a remarkable four from the five so got first choice, and chose the gold cracker.
It contained $1000.
Then Ms Ali and Mrs Taiaroa had to engage in a nerve-wracking game of paper, scissors and rock after tying their scores.
Ms Ali got the nod, after two tied attempts which caused even more nerves, and she chose the silver cracker — which contained $2000.
Which resulted in Mrs Taiaroa breaking into a huge grin and clasping her hands to her cheeks in delight as that meant she had the big one.
"This is just amazing," she said, adding that she would have been happy with any of the prizes at this time of the year.
"I'm going to use some of it to bring my son and his family up from Wellington for Christmas," she said.
She and Des were also looking to get a puppy, and through a smile of equal delight he said "and it'll get more than just a bone now".
And Ms Taiaroa said that yes, she would buy herself "something nice".
The three finalists were drawn from a list of thousands of people who had shopped at one of the competition's participating retailers.
Hits host Adam Green said they had been inundated with entries and he and Sarah were delighted to be able to make the Christmas of three of their many listeners more special than usual.