The Price is Right - 4/16/12 Episode

Today was a rough day on stage for The Price is Right contestants, who went 0-for-6 in the pricing games.

There were some tough games today: 1/2 Off, Let 'Em Roll and The Race Game among them.

Contestants didn't exactly cover themselves in glory, though. We'll start in Lucky Seven, where Jennifer, after being given the '1' to start, went with '6' as the second number. Almost as a rule, if the first number is a '1' you have to go with '8' next. The Price is Right just doesn't do $16K cars. Go with the '8' and, at worst, you're giving Drew just $1, giving you $6 for the next three digits.

Losing those $2 right off the bat is a killer. Jennifer needed to get the last number right as a result. She didn't.

Then we have McKell on The Race Game. Admittedly, this is a tough game, given that you have to get the right price for four items, and you're racing against the clock to do it.

With the clock running against you, why on Earth are you looking back to the crowd?

Pointless celebrity appearances
Celebrity appearances on The Price is Right generally bring nothing to the show as is, but if you're going to do it, at least bring on somebody with stage presence. JR Martinez dancing with Gwendolyn two weeks ago was kinda cool. Curtis Stone last week at least had some enthusiasm.

Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin brought nothing to the table today. Visibly nervous on stage, she was brought out three separate times, including the Showcase (during which you could very clearly see her eyes moving across the teleprompter).

Heck, I'd rather have seen Daniel Goddard.

The Price is Right - 4/6/12 Episode

Today's episode of The Price is Right had a lot going for it: obnoxious contestants, great pricing game play, poor pricing game play and a $1 spin on the wheel, to name a few.

To start, Drew Carey just could not keep a straight face when introducing the Dutch oven during "1/2 Off":

Pricing game strategy fail
With alarming consistency, contestants take the already fairly difficult game of "Cover Up" and make it a lot harder for themselves. For those not familiar with the game, you're playing for a car, and the board starts off looking liking this:

The car - in today's case, a Ford Fiesta SE - is not $29,619. But you have to cover up those incorrect digits with one of the digits right above it. So, today, that 6 in the middle is in fact a 0, 3, 1 or 7. You get as many turns as you need, as long as you got at least one number right in your previous turn.

Here's the thing: you KNOW that Ford Fiesta is a $17,000 car based on those numbers. The obvious strategy is to get just one of those right on the first turn and purposely botch the other one, buying yourself an extra round of guesses on the more difficult numbers at the end.

The first two numbers are always that simple, and yet no one ever, EVER plays it correctly.