My Day at The Price is Right

Yesterday I went to see a taping of The Price is Right. I was with a group so we did not have to wait in the standby line. We had a reservation for the 4:00 taping.

We left Irvine at 10:00 AM because one never knows what the traffic into LA is going to be like and we had to be present at noon. Traffic was very smooth. We got to CBS and checked in with the group leader who said we had time to go have lunch. So we went to the LA Farmers Market for lunch (man that place has changed, and not for the better). A bunch of us ended up eating at Chipotle.

After we ate, we headed back to the studio and basically sat on a bench for awhile, got moved to another bench, had our IDs and SSNs checked, got our nametags, moved to yet another bench, and then went through the "interview". The "interview" consisted of one of the producers asking where you are from and what do you do. You have to be very enthusiastic, and memorable, so they know who to pick as contestants.

I was amazed at how many people in the standby line (not with any of the groups) appeared to be homeless or close to it. What is a homeless person going to do with a new set of Broyhill furniture?

They finally sent us through the security screening, took our cellphones (gave everyone a tag to pick it up later) and seated us in the studio. The studio is tiny, I was shocked at how small it is. It looks SO much bigger on TV.

Once we got seated, we were given directions by the announcer/producer guy (forgot his name) and then they started the show. One of the men in our group was one of the first four contestants called down, and he won the first prize (a set of camping equipment) and got to get up on stage with Drew Carey. The big prize he got to play for was a new Chevy Cobalt, and he won! He did not get on the showcase, but I think it was really cool that he won.

Our group was a mixture of people from different places (some from one church, some from a school's PTA, etc). So we all said we were from "South Orange County". Well Drew Carey made jokes about "South Orange County" all afternoon. He seemed to really enjoy what he is doing. He really interacted with the crowd. He is also very very witty, and quick with a comeback to stuff. Not that that is a big surprise, because of his background in standup, but it was fun to see. One of the guys in the crowd yelled "I love you, Drew!" and immediately he came back with "Let's just be friends!"

All in all it was pretty fun. A bunch of us are planning to go back again. Maybe I will be called to "COME ON DOWN!" next time.