FULL RECAP - TPiR 01/20/2010

[SteveGavazzi]

It's standard game show practice, especially with prizes needed for multiple use, like some of the ones on this show.

It is?

In all seriousness, what game show besides Let's Make a Deal has offered prizes they knew they weren't going to give away?

[WooWho]

How is Drew Carey & Rich Fields in person Joshua?

The short answer: Awesome.

The long answer: They're so great.  Daniel (the guy in my group who had the crazy mustache and the Pricedown dollar sign shaved into his head) actually asked to switch glasses with Drew for a few seconds.  And Drew let him!  Drew looked over his shoulder right before the cameras rolled during the first Showcase Showdown and wished us all good luck, and he was even a little excited to hear that my grandfather and I, a long time ago, built a working model of the Big Wheel (and Plinko, but I didn't tell him that).

And Rich is so great.  Even though I couldn't hear what the heck he was saying half the time, he did a great job pumping everybody up before the show, interacting with the audience...simply put, I can't stop saying nice things about these guys.  (And no, it's not just because I won, either.)

[whinbaby]

The 7,196th set of Pricing Games (84th for Season 38)

Showcase #1
Blackberry Pearl - $840
Dell Laptop - $1,104
Glass Top Sawhorse Desk - $449
Chair - $1,169
Virtual Assistant - $910
Private Jet - $28,000

Showcase #2
Trip to Las Vegas - $7,194
Porsche Boxster - $50,130

Your Modeling Scorecard for January 20, 2010
Daily Records
$65,019/2005, $24,786/2006

Rachel Reynolds
Total:  9/$79,707 - New Record! (6/$4,119, 3/$75,588)
Cars:  2/$75,519 (0/$0, 2/$75,519)
Trips:  0/$0 (0/$0, 0/$0)

Lanisha Cole
Total:  6/$36,583 (2/$6,631, 4/$29,952)
Cars:  1/$19,264 (0/$0, 1/$19,264)
Trips:  1/$7,194 (0/$0, 1/$7,194)

Manuela Arbelaez
Total:  12/$46,663 (11/$44,719, 1/$1,944)
Cars:  0/$0 (0/$0, 0/$0)
Trips:  1/$28,000 (1/$28,000, 0/$0)

And for the season
Rachel Reynolds (70 shows)
Total:  685/$3,385,377 (385/$1,273,072, 300/$2,112,305)
Cars:  62/$1,487,527 (20/$430,582, 42/$1,056,945)
Trips:  63/$510,611 (23/$157,907, 40/$352,704)

Lanisha Cole (61 shows)
Total:  557/$2,714,252 (337/$1,100,943, 220/$1,613,309)
Cars:  48/$1,109,815 (14/$315,605, 34/$794,210)
Trips:  53/$433,428 (29/$236,706, 24/$196,722)

Manuela Arbelaez (52 shows)
Total:  409/$2,622,589 (278/$1,321,584, 131/$1,301,005)
Cars:  52/$1,193,683 (22/$467,652, 30/$726,031)
Trips:  50/$462,962 (34/$295,498, 16/$167,464)

[WooWho]

Chair - $1,169
Virtual Assistant - $910
Private Jet - $28,000

Few corrections according to my prize sheet, whinbaby:

Virtual Assistant - $4,200
Private Jet - $25,000
Chair - $879

[JoePlinko]

So you won $29,200 in cash!?!?!  That's awesome!  Whatcha gonna do with the dough??

[Flerbert419]

Not quite.  According to Josh's first post.....

First order of business to everyone's questions: I gave up that trip.  No way am I paying taxes on $25,000 airfare. 

Which means that he probably got a little over $6500 in cash, minus taxes.

Still, how do you plan on spending the money?

[WooWho]

Which means that he probably got a little over $6500 in cash, minus taxes.

Still, how do you plan on spending the money?

That's correct.  $6,593, to be exact, $461 of which will go to Uncle Sam.  (And maybe more, since I'm originally from New Orleans...*sigh*)

As for my plans for the money, I'm saving it for college purposes, though I might put a small amount of it for something bigger (like that car I was never offered on the show--not the Porsche, but...)

Of course, the check still has to get here first.

[chad1m]

In all seriousness, what game show besides Let's Make a Deal has offered prizes they knew they weren't going to give away?

Well, we can start with Wheel of Fortune. A quote from a 1997 article about crazy Raymond, a contestant from the early 90s, says "Taylor says his "Wheel" loot included a $25,000 check in lieu of a Dodge Stealth, a $3,000 savings bond and an Amtrak trip across the nation that he never took. ="

If you remember, there was a gentleman on Price a couple years ago who was DQd for having a relationship with CBS. He said, regarding his prize of a camcorder, "The production staffer says they're going to give me $2000 in place of the camera, which they have the right to do. Some of the prizes are bought by the show and not provided, meaning they probably need them to use again as props."

I feel like, in one of his Stu's Shows appearances, Roger Dobkowitz talked about the prize department, and how the prizes that aren't furnished likely are only for one-time use on the stage, and it's much easier to substitute them with cash than to have the prize department send out five of them.

[joeyboy]

I gave up that trip.  No way am I paying taxes on $25,000 airfare.

Ya know, somebody needs to drill this little fact into Mike Richard's head, before he decides to have the show offer countless trips in the showcases every day!  

Josh, it's great to know you had an awesome time at the show!

[WooWho]

Ya know, somebody needs to drill this little fact into Mike Richard's head, before he decides to have the show offer countless trips in the showcases every day!  

Josh, it's great to know you had an awesome time at the show!

But on the bright side, maybe it'll save 'em enough money that they'll be able to offer stuff like that Porsche somewhere down the line...

[whinbaby]

Virtual Assistant - $4,200

Whoa!  I wouldn't spend that much on a virtual assistant.  It's like $1,400 per month.  In fact, I am one of the people who do not need one.

[SteveGavazzi]

Well, we can start with Wheel of Fortune. A quote from a 1997 article about crazy Raymond, a contestant from the early 90s, says "Taylor says his "Wheel" loot included a $25,000 check in lieu of a Dodge Stealth, a $3,000 savings bond and an Amtrak trip across the nation that he never took. ="

It doesn't say why they didn't give him the car, though.  It's possible there was an issue that made it impossible to obtain a Stealth for him, so they gave him a cash equivalent.  Price has done that on occasion -- the Saturn Sky from the Season 35 premiere, for instance.

If you remember, there was a gentleman on Price a couple years ago who was DQd for having a relationship with CBS. He said, regarding his prize of a camcorder, "The production staffer says they're going to give me $2000 in place of the camera, which they have the right to do. Some of the prizes are bought by the show and not provided, meaning they probably need them to use again as props."

I'm not sure this guy really understood what was happening...as per its own rules, the show doesn't (or didn't then, at any rate) offer cash equivalents unless there's a reason they can't obtain the prize.  It's also possible that the camcorder was something Roger offered that he normally wouldn't have just to appease Drew, who was already starting to have more influence over the production than he should have by that point.

I feel like, in one of his Stu's Shows appearances, Roger Dobkowitz talked about the prize department, and how the prizes that aren't furnished likely are only for one-time use on the stage, and it's much easier to substitute them with cash than to have the prize department send out five of them.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't remember Roger saying anything like that.

[penny_ante]

... I gave up that trip.  No way am I paying taxes on $25,000 airfare....

Ya know, somebody needs to drill this little fact into Mike Richard's head, before he decides to have the show offer countless trips in the showcases every day! 

I bet the show producers know this already, and love these trips precisely because they are often forfeited.

One thing nags me about this trend. . . . More and more goofy trips means more contestants forfeit these extravagant prizes for tax reasons, or for lack of vacation time, or because who the **** wants a $19k train ride through Europe?!  As they are forfeited, as Joshua did, news will get out via sites like this one, the show's site, and perhaps more widely, the popular (print) press.

Doesn't this run the risk of making the show look cheap, instead of glitzy? Isn't this counter to the intentions of the current regime?

[Ton80]

...or because who the **** wants a $19k train ride through Europe?!

I do.  Don't always assume that, just because a trip is dressed with lots of options, the contestant doesn't want the trip.  I am apparently one of the few people out here who loves to see the trips with all the extras, or with unusual perks.  I'd love to go to New York, have a personal shopping assistant, and be taxied around in a limo.  I'd take a prize that included 5 hours in a private jet - that would get me to Texas and back (well, very close to it), and that would be a sweet ride.  Are these trips hard to price? Darn skippy they are.  Are they truly "once in a lifetime"?  Absolutely.  These trips with guides, assistants, personal tours, etc. are better (in my opinion) than the "we'll fly you coach to some strange city where you'll wander aimlessly around trying to figure out what to do while you're here" trips that were offered in the past.

It would be interesting to see how many trips (by percentage) were declined each season.  I'd be willing to bet that most trips are actually taken, and only a small number are declined.

[PriceFanArmadillo]

There's a difference between tacking a $1k-2k extra onto a $6k trip and offering a $25k trip that doesn't even count as a trip, though.  Nobody wants to have to pay $6,000 in income taxes just to be able to fly to Texas.