Yes, I criticize contestants on a fairly regular basis. But those are the stupid ones. If a smart contestant makes a good effort, I can appreciate them.
Zachary was one of those contestants today, and I genuinely felt sorry for him watching the show. He was a "first four" contestant that never got on stage today. While most people have this happen to them because they're clueless, Zachary was anything but.
Here he (second from right) is bidding last on some gardening equipment, playing it perfectly, only to have Diana get it exactly right...
Now, here's Zachary bidding third on a dishwasher, again making a terrific bid...
...only to have the actual retail price be $799.
Bidding third in the final round, Zachary knew he was screwed as soon as Wesam bid just over him. And he was right...
Zachary clearly knew the machinations of The Price is Right. On his $901 bid above, as soon as the bell went off signifying that someone was exactly right, you could see Zachary shake his head and say, "Dammit." He knew what was up.
Players like this deserve better.
Stage tomfoolery
A couple people who did win on bidders' row, however, had some interesting entrances. Here's Octavia unexpectedly jumping into Drew Carey's arms, then doing a dance:
Yes, Drew is dancing along. It was another strong hosting performance today, highlighted by this exchange after Lauren made it to a pricing game:
That moment when...
Octavia - who lost on "Cover Up" (I won't even get into it this time; you know what happened, or if you don't, it went pretty much like this and/or this) - really had some trouble keeping her balance today.
Maybe there should be some sort of minimum height requirement to spin the wheel.
Pricing game EVIL
Diana (who made the exact $900 bid mentioned above, winning $500 cash) had a rough go on "The Grand Game."
Here's the setup:
Four of the six grocery items are below the "target price" of $3. For each of the four you get right, you get another zero added to that prize total on top. So, if you get all four correct, you get to $10,000.
Usually, contestants get to $1,000, and are then given the option to take the grand and run, or risk it to go for the $10K. Usually, there are a few easy ones to get the contestant up to that point.
Diana never made it. After starting with the canned pineapple ($1.99), she went for the hot dog buns. Playing along at home, I went with the exact same thing.
Game over.
I originally thought this was preposterous. On what planet do hot dog buns cost more than $3? I did a little research at my local grocer this afternoon, though, and the manufacturer's suggested retail price on the little plastic price tag thing for the two name brands I looked at was, in fact, $3.49.
Drew couldn't believe it, either.
Next we have John playing "One Right Price." The premise is simple: you have two prizes and are given one price. Match the price to the right prize, you win them both. Today, John was playing for a trip to Palm Springs and a desktop computer. The price was $2,540.
John, as I would have done, went with the computer (it was MacBook Pro with some fancy gadgets).
Amber and Manuela couldn't believe it, either.
That computer better be able to fire missiles or something to justify that price.
Pricing game WIN
After the complete bottling of "Cliffhangers" we saw last time, it was nice to see this from Wesam today:
That is how you play the game.
Cliffhangers is probably in my top-5 favorite The Price is Right games. It's a great combination of pricing strategy, retail knowledge and silly fun. Yodely Guy is a legend.
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