The Price is Right - 6/4/12 Episode

I'd read about this before, but I forgot today was the day until the show started: it's the "Wedding Shower" episode of The Price is Right!

More duos - in this case, engaged couples - bidding and playing pricing games! Because the Mothers' Day and "New Drivers" specials that we've had in the last month weren't enough!

And - here's a shock - it was such a happy occasion, all six pricing games were won! I'm sure that was not fixed or arranged in any way.

For today's blog, I'm going to go in chronological order of the show - a running diary of sorts. Here's how it played out, from beginning to end:

After the first four eight contestants came on down, the first item up for bids was a wedding gown and tuxedo. Rachel drew the gown modeling assignment, and since Manuela and Amber would probably look weird in a tux...

Daniel Goddard is BACK.

James and Cheryl won the prize, at which point we found out that all couples who made it on stage win a trip to Miami. George Gray delivered the good news.

After James and Cheryl won the prize, they got up on stage to play Plinko. They did well to earn all four chips, giving them five total. While watching, I wondered to myself who would get to drop the chips. Surely, they would split it up somehow.

The Price is Right - 5/31/12 Episode

I'm calling today a 6-for-6 day on The Price is Right.

Technically, it wasn't, as neither contestant who played for a car actually won a car. But they showed some common sense (a rare concept on this show) and took home pretty good prizes, so I'm giving them the 'W.'

In today's second pricing game, we had Morningstar (yes, really) playing for a truck in "Temptation." One by one, the models trot out four prizes (usually, one of them is cash)...

...and you have to guess which of those numbers is the next digit in the car. You're given the first digit in the car price (in today's case, a '2'), so here, Morningstar has to guess whether the next digit is a '3' or a '4.' And so on and so forth. In addition to the $3,434 in cash, today's other prizes were a portable satellite receiver for $776, a 32-inch HD television for $499, and a trio of watches for $595. So, each digit is a toss-up.

The game is called "Temptation" because you can just keep the prizes without doing a thing, or risk it all on the premise that you guess all right digits in the car. If you are right, you get the car and the prizes. If you go for it and lose, you lose everything.

To me, it's an easy decision: take the prizes. Today, they were worth over $5,000 total. Why risk that on the 16-to-1 odds that you have the right price of the car? And yet, most contestants go for it. They almost always lose.

Morningstar, however, took the prizes. And it's a good thing she did.

In today's fifth game, Dennis was playing "Gas Money" for a shot at a Chrysler 200 LX. In this game, you're given five possible prices for the car. One is correct, and the other four have money values of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000. To win the car, you have to pick the car price last, accumulating your "gas money" along the way. You can stop and just pocket the cash at any time, but if you keep going and pick the car price before you're supposed to, you lose everything. The game is difficult because the five prices are all within about $1,000 of the one above and/or below it.

The Price is Right - 5/11/12 Episode (Part 2)

For the first part of today's The Price is Right episode review, click here.

As part of today's Mothers' Day special episode of The Price is Right, Florence Henderson (of "The Brady Bunch" fame) was part of the show as a guest host/model/etc. Drew Carey introduced her prior to the first pricing game.

During Flo's opening comments about Mothers' Day, she says, "I know what mothers really want for Mothers' Day, and it isn't candy. It's eye candy."

At which point we're introduced to Johannes.

The thing is, he was introduced simply as "Johannes." No last name, no clue as to who he is - nothing. So, who is he? Flo's adopted son? Her lover? A model? The Rock's stunt double?

(According to Price is Right Recaps, he's personal trainer Johannes Brugger. So, there you have it - a little info during the actual show would've been nice.)

And here's my other thought: For the Fathers' Day episode - if they even do one - are we going to have an old man introducing some female "eye candy"? No, because that would be sexist and creepy, of course. I don't begrudge women's right to check out hot, muscular dudes, and the full-time The Price is Right models more than fill the "eye candy" quota for men. Just pointing out a little double standard there.

Oops
During the playing of Lucky Seven (covered in the first half of this review), Drew made it a point to say how "rugged" the SUV was. Here's Johannes and Flo bringing the car out on stage:

And here's why Drew went out of his way to mention the ruggedness (note: this didn't make the cut for television. This clip is courtesy of CBS' YouTube channel): 

                   

I'm glad I didn't make the "Good thing the man was driving" joke for the photo above.

Pricing game FAIL
In honor of the happy-go-lucky spirit of today's episode, I won't go on a diatribe of dumb bids on bidders' row (even though there were a few). There were some pricing game gaffes, however, that just can't be ignored.

Nikki and Lora were first on stage, playing "It's in the Bag" for the chance to win $16,000. Here's the setup: you get six groceries...

...with five prices that you have to match to the groceries. If you get the first one right, it's $1,000, and then the money doubles from there on out, up to $16,000 if you get all five. You can stop and pocket the cash at any time, but if you keep going and are wrong, you lose everything.

Usually, the first two are really easy. Today was no different: the prices were $1.19 and $16.07, by far the least and most expensive prices shown. Looking at the items above, it's obviously the tissues and Allegra, right?

Nikki/Lora went with the tissues and... the coffee pods! Game over. What did those coffee pods actually cost?

Just missed!

Our other loss today came from Sharice and Ryan playing "Secret X." This is the tic-tac-toe game where an 'X' is hidden in the middle column, and you can get up to three X's to complete the tic-tac-toe to win the prize. You get one free 'X' and earn the other two by guessing the price of two items.

The first item seemed to be a slam dunk: $15 or $48 for what was basically a little towel rack with suction cups. For some reason, Sharice/Ryan thought this product to be $48. Rachel had to deliver the bad news...

...which Sharice did not take well.

They actually got the second, more difficult prize ($40 instead of $65 for a food processor) correct, giving them a shot at winning. I had a hunch the 'X' would be on top; Sharice/Ryan guessed the middle.

I was right.

LOLZ
This mother/daughter combo obviously has a sense of humor:

Yup, it's Donna and Dona! I assume Dona is short for Donatella or something, but still... very interesting.

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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 - 5/7/12 Episode (Part 1)

Robert won The Price is Right today.

And thanks to him, we now know the combined value of a set of Oakley his/her sunglasses and watches, Hyundai Sonata, $26,000 cash, six pairs of Asics running shoes and a BMW 128i Coupe.

That is an astronomical figure.

And as if that wasn't enough, he even got to wear a legit Olympic gold medal, courtesy of U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay.

He was way more pumped about the possibility of winning the Hyundai Sonata, though:

And he won it, playing the (formerly?) difficult "That's Too Much." I say formerly in parentheses because that's three winners in the last month on a game that had barely been won at all this season. He even rode it almost to the end before saying, "That's Too Much," which almost never works. But it did today.

I'm not even going to bother with a video of it (click here if you need a reminder on how it's played) because it wasn't his biggest highlight. After spinning 40-60 for a dollar (and $1,000 cash) on the wheel, here's his bonus spin:

Any time you hear this sound, you know something big has just happened.

To cap it off, Robert won the sneakers/BMW Showcase with a bid of $31,229 (actual price: $37,125). Given that his opponent, Megan, vastly underbid the first Showcase ($22,253 for a hot tub, trip to Hawaii and an African safari), I wouldn't put it past Robert to have purposely bid well under, but close enough that he knew he'd have it won. There's a certain advantage to bidding on the second Showcase, depending on what the first bidder has done. Whether he did it on purpose or not, Robert took full advantage.

And as if all of that wasn't enough, he got in a super-long hug with Rachel after his pricing game victory.

Click here for Part 2 of my recap of the May 7, 2012 episode of The Price is Right.

The Price is Right - 5/3/12 Episode

Maurice had a fascinating day on bidders' row today. He joined the circus for the second round, and never got on stage.

Let's examine why. We'll start with his first bid on men's and women's watches:

What's the deal with these types of bids lately?

They were pretty nice watches, but...

Maurice appeared to have it figured out in the next round, bidding $1 over Vincenza as the last bidder. He didn't hesitate to rub it in, either.

Too bad for Maurice it didn't pay off.

Instead of sticking with the process, though, Maurice grew increasingly erratic. He soon went back to the $1-over strategy, except this time, he was the second bidder. This opened the door for James (who didn't win, either) to one-up him...

...which is why you don't do that as the second bidder.

It was then all set up for Maurice in the sixth and final round, as he was the fourth bidder. So what does he go and do?

Say it ain't so, Mo. Say it ain't so.

James, by the way, was another "first four" contestant to never get off bidders' row. Oh well.

My weekly "Cover Up" whinge
Someday, somebody will play this correctly. Someday...

The Price is Right - 4/30/12 Episode

Ugh.

That pretty much sums today's episode of The Price is Right, and that even takes into account a $1 spin on the wheel and an exact bid on bidders' row.

That was more than offset, however, by contestants' 0-for-6 performance in the pricing games. The first was the toughest one to take, as Kevin very nearly became the first to ever win $100,000 on "Pay the Rent."

Unfortunately, he took home $0.

Here's the set-up:

You get six grocery items, and each item or combination of items has to cost more than what you put on the "floor" below it. So, the items you put on the first floor (that blue "couch" and green "stove" you see in the photo above) have to cost more than what you put in the red mailbox there at the bottom. And so on and so forth, with the most expensive item up top.

What made today's defeat so heartbreaking was that Kevin played it correctly, and I genuinely thought he had it. What most contestants do is place the obvious least expensive item in the mailbox at the bottom, placing more expensive items above and leaving no chance of the top item being more than the floor below it. Most of these contestants take home the $5,000 or $10,000 - you can stop at any time, or risk what you've won already to move on to the next level - so that's not exactly a bad haul.

Kevin put the Twinkies (or "snack cakes" as Drew Carey and George Gray were contractually obligated to call them) on the second level, which was the right move.

Unfortunately, it didn't pay off.

I really enjoyed Drew's buildup, and Rachel looked legitimately excited about the prospect of a $100K winner. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Nor was Erin's trip to Rome on this brutal "Range Game" loss:

Would Bob Barker have asked how to say "That sucks" in Italian?

The Price is Right - 4/25/12 Episode

As regular readers of The Price is Right Files are aware, a good amount of my blog focuses on the stupid decisions of contestants. Sometimes, finding such decisions can be difficult. Other days, it can be easy.

There are also days like today, where we had Kenneth.

Kenneth was boatload of fail today. We'll start with his bid during the third round of bidders' row. The picture says it all.

Tina (to Kenneth's left) was so dumbfounded with her subsequent victory, she tripped on stage:

Back to Kenneth. He was last to bid in the next round, and went a full $400 over the highest bidder. The Price is Right sometimes rewards such imbecility, and today was one of those days. Kenneth got up on stage, and got a chance to play for four prizes on "Take Two."

Here's the game: you're given a money value (today it was $6,893), and you have to pick the two prizes that add up to that value. If you miss, you get a second chance, which gives you the added advantage of having seen the price of two of the prizes.

Today's prizes: two pairs of women's shoes and a purse from Valentino, a washer/dryer, a pool table and a desktop computer. Kenneth went with the shoes/purse, and... the computer!

Really, Kenneth? Even if you highball the price of the shoes and purse - say, $3,000 - that leaves almost $4,000 for a desktop computer. The foolishness here is twofold. One, you think a desktop computer is worth almost $4,000. Two, more importantly, you still have multiple reasonably possible combinations to guess from. If, say, the shoes/purse and pool table (which would've been my first choice) don't work out, you pretty much know it's the pool table (assuming it's as expensive as you think it is) and the washer/dryer.

So, Kenneth gets his second chance, where we find out that he - and pretty much the whole studio audience - can't do fairly basic math:

Seriously, almost everyone thought he won - including him.

Let's just move on.

Pricing game WIN
We did have some success on The Price is Right today, including our first pricing game car win in what seemed like ages.

The Price is Right - 4/17/12 Episode

Today's episode was shaping up to be the most boring since I first started this blog two weeks ago. No big wins, the game selection was dull, and not even a zany contestant to make fun of.

And then Lesure came in to save the day.

Lesure (pronounced like "leisure," which Drew Carey really seemed to enjoy) was the sixth and final contestant to make it on bidders' row. He seemed to hardly believe his luck...

...which only got better after his victory on bidders' row:

Not that it would have mattered, but note the fourth and final bid from Richard on the far left. $500 over the next highest bid? Sure, why not.

Lesure then got a chance to win a trip to Vegas - and some luggage to help him out - on "2 for the Price of 1." He was given two options for each of the three digits in the price of the luggage, and was given one digit of his choice for free. He went with the second, which proved to be a shrewd move, given that the first digit was an easy choice (the 6 instead of the 2), and a 5 is generally a decent bet for the last number.

The day soon got even better for Lesure, who endeared himself to the working man everywhere by informing everyone during his pre-pricing game interview that he is a dishwasher. Here he goes on the wheel:

Lesure then appealed (unsuccessfully) to a higher power on his bonus spin:

Unfortunately, the run ended in the Showcase, as he was over by $1,647 on his very pricey prizes: a trip to Monaco and a VW Jetta.

Lesure, to his credit, accepted his loss with dignity:

The Price is Right Files salutes you, Lesure.

The Price is Right - 4/13/12 Episode

I've been saying for the last couple days that The Price is Right was setting up for a massive $80,000 win in Plinko today, furnished by Publishers' Clearing House.

Well, I was wrong.

You may have noticed that Stephen let go of the chip well before Rachel had set up the $80,000 placard, and that he had a rather... active stage demeanor.

This was his modus operandi for his entire appearance on the show.

Here's Stephen boppin' around on stage for no apparent reason while earning his Plinko chips:

Even Rachel, probably the friendliest of the models, was trepidacious:

Stephen rebounded from his 0-fer in Plinko to win on the wheel and advance to the Showcase...

Somehow, the magical ride continued all the way through to the end:

Folks, those are not Stephen's and Patrick's bids. That's how far off they were on their bids. Patrick, who apparently hasn't traveled much, bid $18,000 on three trips: Cabo San Lucas, Borneo (!) and Australia (!!!). $18K? Really??