The Price is Right - 4/20/12 Episode

One of the biggest reasons I started this blog, as I wrote a few weeks ago, was to chronicle foolish decisions by contestants.

Today, we had the worst of the worst.

Steffinnie was second to bid on a trio of faux leather bags from Stella McCartney. Right before her, Sheila bid $500, and Steffinnie went with...

Ohhhh boy...

Just to refresh your memory, the closest bidder without going over gets the prize. If this prize were $498 or lower, Steffinnie is over and loses. If it's anything above $499, Sheila (or someone else) wins. Steffinnie has just put herself in a position where she has to be exactly right to win this prize.

Steffinnie did not win the prize.

Steffinnie did not win any prize, in fact, despite being one of the first four contestants on bidders' row. Such is life.

To Steffinnie's credit, she very quickly realized the error of her ways and bid more soundly going forward. In fact, let's see the entirety of the next round. There's a lot to see here:

A quick recap of what we've just witnessed:

1) A contestant named Gidget. Drew Carey loved it so much, he said her name four times while she was coming on down.
2) Sheila trying a little too hard with her come-on to Drew.
3) Steffinnie makes amends.
4) Theresa's "entrance" on stage... oh my.

Theresa got her act together and scored an impressive win on the Grocery Game. Needing to pick a quantity of groceries that would cost between $2.05 and $3.05 to win, she went with one package of four erasers made from recycled rubber. It cost $3.

Theresa managed to stay on her feet during her celebration.

A miracle spin on the wheel
It looked like Theresa's amazing day would continue when she spun a 95 on her first go at the wheel.

And then this happened:

It was a great first half of the show for Pierre-Richard, who had previously won a trip to Sweden with a correct guess on "Double Price." Granted, you're given two prices and you have to pick one, making it 50-50. But Pierre-Richard went with the lower option - always a gutsy call - and it paid off.

Strikeout
Going back to my childhood, "3 Strikes" has always been one of my favorites. It's a really difficult game to win, but when a contestant does - or even comes close - it makes for good television.

For those who don't know, the five numbers in the price of the car and three "strikes" are placed into the bag that looks like a baseball (insert your own joke here). If you draw a number, you have to guess where it goes in the price of the car. Get it right, you're that much closer to winning; get it wrong, and it goes back in the bag. If you draw the three strikes before you get the full price of the car, you lose.

Juan got two strikes before making a comeback in his bid to win a Toyota Prius...

...but ultimately came up short by those last two numbers. That first number got him, having guessed a '2' and a '1' already, wasting valuable turns.

This was a souped up Prius, obviously.

Top-notch hosting
I really thought Drew was on his game today. He did a nice job playing up the drama of "3 Strikes," and got in a nice little dig on Theresa after her dive ("George, what do we have for graceful Theresa?")

And then he snuck this in right before a commercial:

That smirk at the end makes it for me.

Prize worth FAIL
Let's revisit the round that saw Steffinnie's epic $499 bid for a moment. I've noted this sort of thing before, but let's say you're with Stella McCartney's fashion company. Your trio of faux leather handbags is worth $2,685. How do you feel when four rank-and-file Americans think your product is worth:

A question of strategy on the wheel
I've always felt that, if you're first to spin and you get anything up to and including 60 cents, you have to spin again. Obviously, the odds are that you're going to go over, but it's a risk you have to take, considering the likelihood that one of the two contestants behind you will top the 60.

In that position today, Sheila got a 65. I would have stayed, but Sheila went again, got a 40 and was out.

It's a borderline call. What would you have done?

We'll be back with our "Tweets of the Day" later on tonight. In the meantime, email us at thepriceisrightfiles@gmail.com or follow The Price is Right Files on Twitter, @TPiR_Files.