The Price is Right

The reason for our road trip to LA was to see The Price is Right. It wasn't as simple as getting tickets and showing up, though. We had to camp out on the sidewalks of LA for ten hours because they issue more tickets than there are seats in the studio. I don't even like this damned show that much, but Bob is retiring this year so I figured I better not pass up this bizarre opportunity as I certainly wouldn't have it again.

The camp out is step one of the brainwashing process.

Next there is a complicated ticketing system that starts at 6am. We are given numbers based on own position in the lines, and told to go away and come back in a couple of hours.

Note: Just before 6am Four BITCHES from TEXAS cut the line and then repeatedly cut the line when people called them on it. Eventually someone didn't notice them in front of them and they got tickets somehow! They received many hate stares, taunts, and insults from our group. It was disappointing to find out they were in the second taping, because we had a fantastic plan to boo them, put gum in their hair, and squirt mustard on them once we saw them inside the studio.

The third step of the brainwashing occurs when we return to ABC studios at 8am. Now they have us line up on long benches in the order we got the previous tickets. Then they give us ANOTHER number and tell us to come back in an hour. WTF??

We come back in an hour for phase four, a multi step brainwashing phase. Part one involves sitting back down on the benches in the order of the previous numbers. Part two involves gathering documented social security numbers from EVERYONE in the audience. We are told that if we didn't bring proof of our SS#, it's ok because they will only need it within thirty days if we win a prize. How many people win prizes in this game? About ten. Why are we collecting this information from over 300 people in a process that takes HOURS and isn't even necessary?? Brainwashing. These people are in control, no matter how stupid they seem. Part 3: Nametags. We do not write our own names, duh! A special name writer must come by and do this for us. For some reason he only grabs about 4 tags at once and has to stop and walk to get more over and over again. This place is a torture chamber. Next we are given "interviews" in groups of about eight. If you thought they picked people to come on down randomly, you're a fool! "What is your name and what do you do for a living?" they asked. Do NOT say something professional sounding we learned... these people are looking for hardworking, blue collar americans! Final phase... sit on benches for an hour or so.

And then we make it to the studio.

It's tiny, and creepy. We're told how to be an audience, and how to know if we've been called. We're scrutinized by some people holding clipboards and scanning the crowd. I swear one of them keeps looking at me.

Bob comes out and he's very charming, but slightly senile. He can't remember if it's April, May, or June. He makes the crowd feel like they know him personally, and I guess it's hard not to feel like that when he's on your TV for thirty years (or more?) , always looking into the camera and talking to "you".

The show proceeds with no major surprises. Bob doesn't really do anything. People race out to him between takes to tell him things or have him correct his mistakes. One of the doors for the games doesn't work so we have a break to talk to Bob while they fix it. He mentions a room in his house that is strictly for his pet rabbits to play in.

When they bring out the big wheel, a man a couple of rows in front of us starts having a seizure. The show proceeds as people in the audience start to take notice. Most people in the audience who are aware of what's going on take immediate interest on the man and ignore the show. Only after the scene cut does the crew really take interest in this possibly dying man. It's not like we can rush in medical personnel while filming the BIG WHEEL, though!!

Anyway, it was surreal. A person from our group made it to the bidding corral toward the end but he didn't make it onstage. Most of the prizes were terrible anyway. Ugly furniture. An RV trailer with no truck to pull it. Banjos. Etc.

I wouldn't do it again, but I'm glad that I did. It was freakin' weird and I feel like I learned a little bit about how TV works.

My only photos from the event:
(No cameras or phones allowed in the studio)


If Kmart ever had a place in the American economy, this is it. We bought a ton of crap there for our camp out on the sidewalk, and we would have returned it later if we hadn't been so exhausted. Everyone has this idea. My sleeping bag came with leaves it in.


Here's a pic with one of our team shirts. They say "I need help from the audience" in TPIR font. There were twenty of us. We didn't know everyone in our group but we still had a lot of team spirit.