Hi All!
I thought you would enjoy hearing about my experience. As some of you know, I was the person behind the website tpir .tv, which was the first price is right fan website on the internet (as far as I know!). It featured video clips and audio clips from the show from my personal tape collection and was a labor of love for me to run from the late 90’s to early 2000’s. I launched it after appearing on the show for the first time in 1997, and I played Plinko! I won $5,100 in cash, a snowblower, a beard trimmer, a water filtration pitcher, a Libman Wonder mop, and a glass chess set.
I originally applied to be on the Superfan prime time special which aired a few months ago. I made the cut to be in the studio among the 20 potential contestants for what arguably was one of the all-time best episodes of Price. While I ultimately was not called to “come on down” at that taping, the producers encouraged all of us to return for a future taping, and as a result I began emailing the contestant producers to find a tape date for a daytime taping that I could return for, and my friends who were my studio guests could also make. We settled on Feb 21st, 2023, the day after the President’s Day holiday.
We were the 2nd show taped of three that day. In line, we were once again interviewed, and Hannah the contestant producer immediately recognized me from the Superfan taping and I again did my best to exude energy and excitement, and my guests did as well. To date, every potential contestant from the Superfan special who had made it back to a 2nd taping had been called on down, so my hopes were high that I would be selected this time around as well, but as always, there’s no guarantee until George says your name!
We filed in to the studio, and while I have been in Studio 33 many times for many historic tapings (the 5,000th show, 30th anniversary show, 35th anniversary show, etc.) I took some extra time soaking it all in, because we knew by this point that the show would be moving to a new studio after 51 years. I’m sure the new facilities will be a massive upgrade, as Studio 33 is showing its age, but 33 holds a special place in my heart. It was where I taped my first ever game show when I was on Price is Right back in 1997, I’ve been to numerous game show tapings in 33 as an audience member including Price, Match Game, and Hollywood Squares, and it was a thrill to hopefully be able to walk up those stairs from Contestant’s Row one final time. The feeling you get in that studio is indescribable.
The show was running about 45 minutes late on the day, but no one cared much. The lights came on and George came out and the next thing you know, we were underway. I was the 2nd contestant called to Come on Down!
The rest is very much a blur. The first two items up for bids were items we were unfamiliar with, and given my position in bidding, it was unlikely I was going to have much of a shot at bring the winning bidder, but I realized that I would likely be bidding last for the 3rd pricing game, and after seeing the first two games were non-car games, I knew pricing game 3 was going to be my best shot.
Out rolls a pizza oven to bid on from the turntable. Again, at the time of taping, this was a product neither I nor my guests had seen yet, so we took an educated guess and I bid one dollar more than the highest bid, and we all overbid. That was edited out, so thanks to the Price editors for making me look smarter than I actually was there lol. What did air was our 2nd set of bids. I ultimately decided that going low was the best idea, so I bid $500, which is the modern era’s version of a $1 bid, given that no item up for bid has ever been less than $500 for several years now.
Drew announces that the actual retail price is $530… music to my ears, and up on stage I went. As soon as they started describing the two small prizes, I felt confident I would be playing 10 chances, and my first thought was “wow… I’m going to win a car today”.
Any loyal fan of Price knows this is the easiest car game to win if you know the unwritten rule that all prices end in zero.
The smart plug seemed pretty straightforward at $30. The computer was not straightforward at all, and all the credit for that bid goes to my friend Tristan who has in the audience and saw that same computer on the show recently and knew it was $570. Without knowing that, I would have burned through several chances guessing higher prices for certain. So thanks to Tristan for setting the stage for what happened next…
The final prize was the car, a Kia Forte, which is a car that Price has trotted out at least once a week for ages now, and we were all quite confident that the car was $21,##0. It was just a matter of deciding which order to put the 3rd and 4th numbers. The show had tossed in a couple of accessories, so we opted for $21,530 vs. $21,350… Drew hits the button… the card drops, and we all lose our minds. Just like that, a historic moment! Something that hadn’t happened since 5-5-2000… a 10 Chances exacta! I was in shock. Drew was in shock. What a thrill to be part of a little Price is Right history. He came over to me at the car and we talked for a bit off camera of just how insane and rare that was… he knew he had never seen it in all his years hosting, and it was at that point he learned that I was at the superfan taping, and he said “wow… we did a good job finding the best players!”.
During the commercial break, the perfect playing was all anyone could talk about. George asked me if I knew when the last time it was that happened, and I told him I didn’t know for sure, but it had been a very long time ago (we didn’t have our phones to look it up). Even one of the camera operators came over to me and congratulated me… she said she was stunned. Had never seen it. Devin said he’d never thought anyone could do it. Both Drew and George told the audience for the rest of the show to look over at our group for help… that we were all superfans and were here to help!
Unfortunately I could not get past the wheel, but I could not have asked for a better experience. I would encourage all of you who are eligible to apply for the next season! Hopefully you can make a little history in the process as well. Hopefully I’ll be able to do see you all again in 2033!
Tony
