The Price is Right - 6/5/12 Episode

Having done this blog for two months now, I know there are two things more than any others that are guaranteed to drive traffic to the site: pregnant models and Daniel Goddard.

Today, we had both. Gwendolyn was on the show today, and people seem quite fascinated with whether she is pregnant (yes, she is).

As for Daniel, well...

Oh, right, Manuela is in the picture, too.

Over the course of today's episode, my blog's hit total for the day went up fivefold - mostly due to search queries along the lines of "male model price is right" or "who is the male model on the price is right." There was also a "why is daniel goddard on the price is right so often" mixed in. So, thank you for the traffic, Daniel.

Moving on to the games, we had a really nice win on "Lucky Seven" today. After a strong start, Shannon went with the dreaded '5' twice. Here's how it turned out:

Considering she had $5 left for the last two digits, going with a '5' on the fourth one was a logical play. I thought the '9' screwed her over; the '5' as the last digit is as good a guess as any, but a lot of times The Price is Right sneaks a random '2' or '8' or some such number in that spot.

Overall, contestants went 3-for-6 on pricing games today.

Bidders' row FAIL
There was a lot of terrible bidding today. In the first round, Tacara bid $500 for two pairs of Christian Louboutin women's shoes. Even I know you're looking at about $2,000 there.

It got worse in the second round. Bidding last for a trip to Disneyland, Tacara (far left) went with...

The Price is Right - 5/29/12 Episode

Well, this happened today on The Price is Right:

She bid on the fucking tugboat prop!!!

Novel's $800 bid didn't win the surfboards, either. And she didn't cover herself in much glory in the next round. As the last bidder on a portable DVD player, Novel went with $900...

...when a bid of $651 would have done the trick. Particularly since the actual retail price was $780 - oops.

Novel finally figured it out in the last round, going $1,501 after bids of $1,200, $1,499 and $1,500. But Orchid (above, far right) won the pool table with her $1,200 bid, avoiding becoming a "first four" flame-out in the process.

Orchid didn't have much luck in "The Race Game," though (click here to see how the game is played). Here were her prices:

And the prizes were: desktop computer, women's accessories, treadmill, kitchen range. "The Race Game," like other timed games, requires poise and at least some retail knowledge. It also helps if, as I've mentioned before, you pay attention to George Gray as he's describing the prizes. The women's accessories - a pair of platform sandals, leather tote and sunglasses - were from Prada.

Prada.

The shades alone are probably $880 for all we know, so hearing "Prada" should ring alarm bells that the accessories might be one of the more expensive items here. As it turned out, it was the most expensive at $3,590, but Orchid went with $880 - and then never changed it. In the end, she got only the treadmill for $2,499.

Considering the presence of Prada, and the $880 just screaming out "desktop computer," this was a really winnable setup.

Pricing game WIN
Contestants went just 1-for-6 on pricing games today. The '1' was a hell of a win, though.

After getting a $500 and a $0 with his first two "Plinko" chips, here's Ryan's last two:

"Cover Up" FAIL
I'm going to throw a party when someone finally plays "Cover Up" correctly. You're all invited.

I know I bang on about this every time (here's my original banging on, complete with how the game is played), but here's the thing: this game is played a lot. Perhaps some contestants show up to The Price is Right on a whim without watching it beforehand, but not all of them. Surely, at this point, a lot of these people have seen this game played already.

If I can figure out the strategy, so can they.

The Price is Right - 5/10/12 Episode

Today was a pretty boring episode of The Price is Right, so this is going to be relatively short.

Let's take a look at the highlight of the day: David winning a new truck in "Grocery Game." This is my favorite grocery-related game.

 

It requires strategy, retail know-how and has a cool setup, including Rachel operating an old-school cash register with the spinny numbers. The purpose of the game is to "buy" groceries until you get to a price between $20 and $21.

And David nailed it.

 

Here he is with his truck:

"It's got wheels!"

David was the star of the day, as he also won an epic Showcase duel with Felipe (who wiped out on "Gas Money" earlier in the show).

To get two bids that close is rare. Felipe looked like he had his iPhone/iMac computer/Prius in the bag, but David topped him with a $28,300 bid on his snorkeling gear/Belize/ski boat package. Well done.

Pricing game FAIL
There were a few of these today. In addition to Felipe, we had Francina asking for the first digit and then getting the next two wrong in "2 for the Price of 1" (a double fail), and Jason blowing "Swap Meet" (by guessing that two pairs of Gucci heels and two pairs of Gucci sunglasses were only $1,650).

The Price is Right - 5/2/12 Episode (Part 2)

The first part of my review of the May 2, 2012 episode of The Price is Right can be found here.

I left off the first half of this review with crazy Joshua #2 getting on stage to play "Step Up."

It did not go well.

Note to everyone: designer shoes aren't cheap. Especially if they're featured on The Price is Right.

It's moments like these where I wonder what Drew Carey is really thinking. He tried his best to play up Joshua, only for him to play the game like that. And this came virtually on the heels of that "Rat Race" disaster in the previous pricing game.

Not that Joshua seemed to know where he was too bothered by it all, once he was reminded that he'd get to spin the wheel.

Bidders' row FAIL
So, George Gray's facepalm in the first half of this review? It came after everybody over-bid on a sofa:

Here's the thing: Peggy (second from right) was the last to bid. The lowest bid before her was $990. If you think the sofa is worth $700 in that situation... just bid a dollar. It's that simple. Peggy would've won.

Idiot.

The Price is Right - 4/26/12 Episode

Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.

And since nobody is good at "Cover Up," somebody needs to get lucky to win it. No one had coming into today's show: according to The Price is Right Recaps, contestants were 0-21 in "Cover Up" this season.

Today was Naomi's lucky day.

Playing for a Hyundai Sonata, here was the setup:

Like everyone before her, Naomi tried to get every number right on the first go, which is not the right way to play (the "Cover Up" link above explains why). Like everyone before her, Naomi got the very easy first two numbers right...

...leaving her in a position where, as Drew Carey said, "All you have to do is get the hardest three numbers now."

Naomi's first bit of luck here is that she didn't get any of those last three right on the first try, giving her an extra shot (compared to most other contestants) at guessing another number on her second turn. Which she did:

The second bit of luck here is that she got the fourth number right (at 4-to-1 odds), and now that third number is a 50-50 toss-up. Get that one and, assuming you're wrong on the last digit, at least then you have a 3-to-1 shot at the car with your final turn.

Naomi did not get that third digit and, as it turned out, there was her third and best bit of luck:

And there you have it - the "Cover Up" hex is broken!

Drew and I share the same sense of humor
One last note on Michael Jackson from his "Thriller" video Naomi. The show was taped on her 30th birthday, apparently, prompting Drew to make one of my go-to quips:

Cliffhangers FAIL
As I noted on this blog sometime last week, I really, really wanted to see "Cliffhangers." It had been a while. It was the first pricing game out of the chute today, and I was pumped.

The Price is Right - 4/9/12 Episode

THEY ARE PLAYING PLINKO EVERYDAY THIS WEEK ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!

Drew Carey gave us the big news today, right before Summer dropped her third and final chip. Publishers' Clearing House is going to double the $10,000 slot everyday this week. And if tomorrow's Plinko contestant doesn't get it, it rolls over to the next day, and so on. So, Friday's Plinko player could win $80,000.

But not $100,000, as here's what Summer did with her $20,000 chance:

Note the sharp turn the chip makes to get to the $20,000 slot. Not that I'm suggesting it was rigged for the day of this big announcement.

Summer got her chance to play Plinko buy winning a pair of mountain bikes. Here's what Donna bid for - again, not one, but TWO (2) - mountain bikes:

Massive pricing game FAIL

It got only worse for Donna from there.