TPiR Recap - 11/18/2013 (TPiR 2013 Dream Car Week - Day 1)

[thepriceis_J]

Yeah, the prizes were setup to make sure someone went for it, whether it was a loss or not. Unfortunately, they got a contestant who was very risk-averse (seriously, how cheap would the gifts have to be for her to go for it?) and who happen to get the price right. A painful moment, but great television.

Check Game was lost in its final playing of Season 37. So technically speaking, Check Game just snapped a four and half year losing streak. What an exciting way to snap it, too! One dollar!

I am absolutely thrilled to see regular games played for expensive cars. Now while I'd prefer to see this happen on regular shows instead of specials, I'm just glad to see it again.

This was an excellent show. Great moments and great contestants. The perfect combination outside of a perfect show.

[Mr. Weatherman]

But that's just it:  they did not want the contestant to bail out.  That's exactly why they didn't offer more tempting gifts.  For all the questionable choices the current staff makes, the cheap gifts made perfect sense.

That's obviously what they were trying to accomplish, yes, but why play Temptation if there is hardly going to be anything worth tempting the contestant with? The temptation factor is the whole point of the game.

[GuyWithFace]

But that's just it: they did not want the contestant to bail out. That's exactly why they didn't offer more tempting gifts.

...Although I am reasonably certain they are no less happy that they did not have to risk someone actually taking the car.

why play Temptation if there is hardly going to be anything worth tempting the contestant with? The temptation factor is the whole point of the game.

Precisely, except the car is --and always has been -- the temptation, and a rather sizable one today. Do you take the safe route, or does the car tempt you enough to risk the gifts and go for everything?

[Richie]

Pick A Number: This was a tossup.  I went 9, Gustavo went 5.  If you were to lose, let it be this way...Gustavo goes with his gut and ignores the audience advice on the 7. 

Temptation: BUMMER.  That's the only word I can describe it.  I know Josephine is kicking herself for this, but on the other hand the second and fourth digits are not very easy on the car. 

Check Game: Thank you Courtney for breaking the losing streak!!!!  That was not an easy setup.  I said $3,000 on the check...show's how much I know. 

Side By Side: That was too damn easy.  I also said 6995 along with Shelley.

Now Or Then: Yeah that was too easy as well.

That's Too Much: THAT'S ONE SHORT!!!   Ugh...I hate it when that happens.  I thought Crystal was right.  Looks like Mike put a "one more" trap on this setup.  Yikes.

[noahproblem]

... in Temptation, and the one time we get a contestant that actually isn't tempted by the flashy car, seems to understand the odds and difficulty involved,...

I'll preface this by saying I don't blame Josephine for bailing (as surprisingly cheap as I thought the bailout prizes were they were still worth almost $4,000) but I disagree with the idea that she understood the odds.  She had a 1 in 16 chance of winning the car by guessing random numbers (and all 4 numbers today pretty much were 50/50 guesses, difficult but understandable for a $92K Porsche), but she was getting about 23-1 odds to go for it (risking $4K to win an additional $92K).  Not to mention the $4K she was risking she didn't have when she walked into the Bob Barker Studio that day.

[sideshowPA]

Noah's analysis is totally on point.  Clearly, the prizes today were chosen with the full expectation that a player would want to go for the car.  BUT, I wonder if they really expected the contestant to get the price correct.

[MannyCav]

I'll preface this by saying I don't blame Josephine for bailing (as surprisingly cheap as I thought the bailout prizes were they were still worth almost $4,000) but I disagree with the idea that she understood the odds.  She had a 1 in 16 chance of winning the car by guessing random numbers (and all 4 numbers today pretty much were 50/50 guesses, difficult but understandable for a $92K Porsche), but she was getting about 23-1 odds to go for it (risking $4K to win an additional $92K).  Not to mention the $4K she was risking she didn't have when she walked into the Bob Barker Studio that day.

I'm not so sure that I would risk over $2,000 in cash and nearly $4,000 overall on a flat random 1 in 16 chance, and given the car involved (Porsche optioning is notably heinous in this regard) and the close-spaced numbers, unless you was a Porsche-phile, it really was basically just that--1 in 16 or very close to it if you start trowing out duplicate numbers, and even that is no guarantee. If she didn't bail out because she didn't like the odds of losing what was already given to her, why did she bail out? I'll grant that I can't get in her head and say absolutely why she bailed, but offering opinion and speculation is a part of discussion, and I can't think of any other reason why she would give up on a nearly $100,000 car (no real idea what the numbers are beyond random guessing, and the odds of losing the cash and prizes already 'won' are too great).

[Cartboy]

Nice wins on Side By Side and Now Or Then & great to finally see Check Game won and in exciting fashion!

What a heartbreaking bailout by Josephine on Temptation!

Not too bad overall, IMHO.

When you're playing Temptation for a $92,000+ car, wouldn't it make sense to offer more tempting gifts than a little less than $4,000 worth? In this case, that ended up being enough for Courtney to bail with, but still... I can't speak for every nut in that audience, but I would bet a shiny penny that the vast majority of people would have kept playing for the Porsche. Somewhere along the lines of $10,000 would have been more appropriate.

On that same note, why must Courtney have had that price exactly right? Such a painful loss, even with the bailout.

Courtney didn't play Temptation.  Josephine did.

[Mr. Weatherman]

Courtney didn't play Temptation.  Josephine did.

Whoops... Misread the recap!

[PriceBusterXL]

5, 7 or 9 as the second to the last digit in Pick-A-Number is pretty much a stab-in-the-dark kind of guess. No surprise that this was lost.

When you're playing Temptation for a $92,000+ car, wouldn't it make sense to offer more tempting gifts than a little less than $4,000 worth? In this case, that ended up being enough for Courtney to bail with, but still... I can't speak for every nut in that audience, but I would bet a shiny penny that the vast majority of people would have kept playing for the Porsche. Somewhere along the lines of $10,000 would have been more appropriate.

On that same note, why must Courtney have had that price exactly right? Such a painful loss, even with the bailout.

And one more thing, I'm not sure what cue was being played when the Porsche was revealed, but it sucked. For a special week like this, the older cues would sound much better.

How about that... After four years, not only does Check Game finally get a win, but such an impressive one, at that! By the way, lineup WIN in the first half, Mike.

Side By Side couldn't have been much easier.

Mike kept the great lineup alive with Now or Then...also another easy win.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I'm getting really sick and tired of Drew telling contestants That's Too Much! is a difficult game that is rarely won before they play. I'm also getting sick of seeing it so often, but that's another story.

How in the hell was that first showcase so expensive?

Oh, so he did said it again...........Yeah, I'm about as sick and tired of that as you are.

[Swingbatta0]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I'm getting really sick and tired of Drew telling contestants That's Too Much! is a difficult game that is rarely won before they play. I'm also getting sick of seeing it so often, but that's another story.

It doesn't make much of a difference, whether he says it or not.

[Joe]

It doesn't make much of a difference, whether he says it or not.

Perhaps not in terms of the outcome, but it would be kinda sorta nice if Drew limited his commentary on the difficulty (or lack thereof) of various games; I don't think it helps make losing contestants feel any better.

[superballfan]

If it was Bob doing Temptation, how would he have handled the situation? ( This might get ugly.)

[Hag]

Well, he'd definitely do some last digit reveal teasers.

"Wouldn't it be exciting if you won that Porsche?", for example.

Afterwards, he might say "You had it!...I'm going home." and pretend to walk off the stage. But of course he'd come back and console the contestant, and remind her that she did win some nice prizes in the game.

[Mr. Weatherman]

If it was Bob doing Temptation, how would he have handled the situation? ( This might get ugly.)

How would this get ugly? My guess is that he would have handled it just as he did any other painful loss (Really dragged out reaction, telling the contestant he's sorry), possibly asking Roger when the last that happened was, and then throwing the show to commercial.