The Price is Right - 6/21/12 Episode

With the 40th season of The Price is Right recently concluded, they've gone to showing reruns for a good part of the summer. We knew this today because a) Drew Carey was wearing a tie, which he didn't do the last half of the season or so, and b) Gwendolyn wasn't pregnant yet.

Don't worry, everyone, she still is. (The blog actually got a few hits inquiring about this yesterday)

I hadn't watched the show in a week, and was fairly excited to jump back into it with a playing of "Plinko" as the first pricing game. And then this happened:

If you believe in karma, you will surely have to feel DeJoie did something to really, really piss somebody off previously. Particularly after she got a 90 on the wheel, only to be trumped by a 95 from Cynthia.

It just wasn't DeJoie's day.

It wasn't really shaping up to be Lori's day, either, after a couple questionable bids in the first two rounds. Here she is (second from left), bidding second on six pairs of shoes...

...and going just $22 under the previous bid, leaving an impossibly small window for victory (which didn't happen). Then, bidding third on a gas range, with bids of $950 and $1,050 right before her...

...almost the same thing. She didn't win.

Lori figured it out eventually...

...thus catapulting her on a terrific run, winning "Pick a Pair" for a trip to China, getting to the Showcase and then winning it with an excellent bid on cowboy/cowgirl boots, a trip to Calgary and a Toyota Tacoma.

While we're here, spare a thought for Jeremy (the guy who bid $1,200 in the photo above), a "first four" contestant who never made on stage. A military man being allowed to languish on bidders' row? I didn't think it possible.

Pricing game WIN
This hardly ever happens: a win on "Line 'em Up" on the first try.

Patrick did it today, though...

...with Manuela more than happy to deliver the good news.

An enjoyable part of this was Drew casually tossing it over to Manuela, expecting Patrick to be wrong and have to use his second guess. At 18-to-1 odds, it's easy to assume the contestant is going to be wrong on the first go. But Patrick made a believer out of all of us.

Commercials
Regular readers of The Price is Right Files know I enjoy my commercials, with a few in particular being my favorites.

Well, today, I'd like to induct a new entry into The Price is Right Commercials Hall of Fame.

Blythe Danner, congratulations. Your outstanding - and incredibly repetitive, seeing as your commercial is on just about everyday - work in promoting post-menopausal osteoporosis awareness deserves this extra bit of recognition.

"Thaaanks, Ed."

Previous entries into The Price is Right Commercials Hall of Fame are, of course, Wilford Brimley, Henry Winkler and the Hoveround Singing Guy.

And, finally...
Our old friend was back today.

Daniel Goddard!

Follow The Price is Right Files on Twitter (@TPiR_Files) or email thepriceisrightfiles@gmail.com.

The Price is Right - 6/12/11 Episode

I apologize I haven't blogged the last two episodes of The Price is Right - a few things have come up recently. Going forward, I'll still be doing my best to blog about every episode, but in occasional cases that may not be possible.

Alright, on to today's show. It was a day for both the young and the old. Let's start with the introduction of Drew Carey, which included Connor, the son of the host's ex-fiancee:

 

(According to those who report on such matters, Carey's motivation for his recent weight loss was to keep up with Connor as he got older, and that he was planning to remain a part of Connor's life after the couple split in January.)

And then we had Margaret playing "Clock Game" for a trip to St. Thomas:

Ohhhh booooy

To recap, after being told the price of the first item is lower than $900, Margaret proceeds to spend 15 seconds - that's half the time allotted for the game - and 17 (I think) guesses that are higher than $900. I half expected Drew to throw in a "lower than $900" reminder somewhere in there, as Margaret was clearly lost, but I guess that's against the rules of hosting.

Then, she guesses $850, goes back to $800 again, then goes back to $850 again. Concentrate!

Pricing game struggles
Margaret was the last contestant in an 0-for-6 clanger of a day in pricing games.

The Price is Right - 6/6/12 Episode

Well, this happened on The Price is Right today:

Henry may be a world-class prankster; or maybe he just needs a new dentist. Regardless, this was an epic performance on so many levels. Bravo.

Henry couldn't add to his haul of a fireplace and $500, however, as he misfired on "Squeeze Play" for two motor scooters. At the wheel, Henry lost his tooth again, and then couldn't match a $1 spin that came before him.

Regardless, add Henry to the list of legendary The Price is Right contestants.

The odyssey of Daisy
Today was quite a day for old people on The Price is Right. Let's take a look at Daisy's day on the show.

One of the "first four" contestants to come down, she was stuck on bidders' row through the first half of the show. Here's one reason why: for this set of luggage...

...Daisy bid...

In the next round, though, Daisy got it together with a $1,500 bid on a set of jewelry that was worth $1,505. When she got up on stage, Drew Carey commented, "You went from a disaster bid of $8,000 to being off by $5."

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 - 5/8/12 Episode

Regular readers of The Price is Right Files may not believe this, but I have a heart.

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:

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 - 5/4/12 Episode

I'm not quite as obsessed with Plinko as many other The Price is Right fans are, but it can sometimes make for riveting television. The exultation of a $10,000 chip, matched by the utter despair of the $0 chip. Fortunes hang in the balance and can change in a second.

Today, Kyong's playing of Plinko gave me goosebumps.

That's pretty damn good.

Kyong earned her three extra Plinko chips with some sound pricing strategy (including the generally accurate principle that if they give you a '0' for the second number as an option, take it. She did twice, and won a chip both times).

Kyong's highlight reel wasn't over. At the wheel, Mary has just gotten a dollar. Here's Kyong trying to match it:

Mary got an 85 in the spin-off, and Kyong was one peg away from matching it and creating the most epic spin-off in recent times. It didn't happen, but $22,000 in cash isn't a bad day on The Price is Right.

The Plinko and wheel moments saved an otherwise fairly mundane show. There were a few highlights and lowlights, though.

Bidders' row FAIL
Ladies and gentlemen, let's say you're convinced the item up for bid is $900. The three bids before you were $775, $800 and $1,200. What do you bid?

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 - 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 - 4/30/12 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 - 4/27/12 Episode

OK, first thing's first.

If this isn't the best picture on the Internet right now, I don't know what is...

Why is Manuela holding a puppy? We'll get to that later (nice tease, eh?).

For now, let's chronicle a couple terrific pricing game wins. We had Rodney playing "That's Too Much" for a Jeep Wrangler. This is one of The Price is Right's toughest games - according to The Price is Right Recaps, contestants were 3-23 coming into today's show.

Make it 4-23.

Take a bow, Rodney.

As impressive as that was, Kelly Anne's performance on "Hole-in-One" was better. A quick explanation of the game: you have to sink a putt to win a car. How long that putt is depends on your ability to price grocery items. You're given six items, and you have to guess them in order from least to most expensive. The more you get right, the closer you get to the hole. If you blow it on the first one, you're looking at about a 14-foot putt. If you get all six, you have a tap-in for the car.

Kelly Anne got a pretty brutal set of groceries:

Lighter fluid? A five-gallon keg of root beer? If I had played this, I might have been looking at that 14-foot putt. Kelly Anne, however, went blackberries ($1.49), lighter fluid ($3.99), canola oil ($5.29), walnuts ($9.99), root beer keg ($18), pain reliever ($6.79)... All things considered, that's really damn good. I mean, I know that's a big-ass bag of walnuts, but really? $9.99?

So, Kelly Anne had to hit a three-footer...

...and completed her audition for a job in television, which she had been doing pretty much throughout the show.

Bidders' row FAIL
I admit I didn't have much faith in Kelly Anne after one of her first bids: $580, right after someone else bid $599. But she certainly righted the ship.

Poor Adam, on the other hand...

The Price is Right - 4/23/12 Episode

Why is "Any Number" my favorite game on The Price is Right?

It's relatively straightforward, still involves some logic, and is the most consistently dramatic game on the show. It almost always comes down to those last one or two numbers to win the car, mid-level prize or the piggy bank.

Sometimes, the drama gives way to a memorable victory.

And then we have Dendee today...

Tough luck. I'd have gone with the '1' there, too. The Price is Right has been tricky like that lately. They reversed the trend just in time today. I feel like it's been ages since somebody won a car.

It was a bad day for logic, as Allison's reasonable playing of "Lucky Seven" also let her down. After going with '8' and '5' as her first two numbers for the new pickup truck - guesses that left her with $3 to spare (meaning she couldn't be off by more than three on her next two guesses combined) - she goes with '4.' I went with '4,' too.

Cue the losing horn!

Another '9'? Really? That's just cruel, The Price is Right. Cruel.

Well, at least Allison's appearance on the show led to this exchange prior to her loss:

An epic wheel spin-off
As I mentioned a couple times last week, if you spin a 60 as the first contestant at the wheel, I think you should spin again. It's a close call, and today, Joshua decided to stay with the 60 in that same situation.

An epic wheel spin-off ensued.

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.

The Price is Right - 4/19/12 Episode

There is a famous YouTube clip from a The Price is Right episode, toward the end of the Bob Barker era, of a contestant with absolutely no idea what she's doing on "Ten Chances."

Even people who work for a living and don't watch the show know of this clip, one of the very few moments where Bob became noticeably upset with a contestant.

I bring this to your attention because of Kendra's performance today on "Bonkers." She did everything wrong - including constantly looking back to the crowd during a TIMED game - and yet...

My favorite part of this is Drew Carey, normally pretty affable with contestants, having to yell in desperation, "Put the paddle up there!" Even as I was watching this, I was writing my scathing critique of Kendra in my head.

And then she won despite, as Drew said, doing everything you're not supposed to do.

Drew didn't get pissy like Bob did, but he reminded Kendra of her luck every chance he got. And there were many chances, as Kendra got all the way to the Showcase (with a 30-60-90 on the wheel).

She won that, too, with an impressive $18,000 bid on a trip to Aspen, home gym and jetski.

What a start
Kendra's "Bonkers" performance - the first pricing game of the day - was part of a tremendous start to the show. In the next round, the item up for bid was a limited edition Star Wars-themed XBox 360...

(Model-bots not included)

...which Robert won with an exact bid of $650, allowing him to pocket $500 in cash straight out of Drew's pocket. Robert was pumped...

...and so was I when the next pricing game came out: Any Number. My favorite game! (I didn't make it the background to my blog for nothing.)

The Price is Right - 4/18/12 Episode

There are few things in life that piss me off more than people woefully under-dressing for an occasion.

I went to a wedding last summer where two men (and I use that term loosely) wore shorts. Shorts... to a wedding. For a couple minutes, I was legitimately angry. I don't care that the wedding was outside and it was 85 degrees out. That is never ever, ever ever ever, acceptable.

I realize The Price is Right is not a wedding, but there still should be at least a minimal sartorial decorum. You're out of the house, in the presence of hundreds of other people, and on national television.

National. Television.

Really, Carol? Really? Did you think The Price is Right was played at the beach? Put some fucking pants on.

Showcase FAIL
Out of principle, if both showcase contestants are more than $10,000 off, they should both lose. For the second time in a week, we had that happen today.

I'll admit, Autumn's (right) showcase had me fooled, too: she bid $24,000 on a trip (for four) to DisneyWorld and a Ford Focus Titanium. I drive a regular Ford Focus; that Titanium must be one hell of an upgrade.

Lisa (left) bid $18,550 on beach accessories, a trip to Corfu, Greece and a sailboat. Under $20K for that package? Fascinating. And she walks away with it.

Contestant shenanigans
Then again, we knew something was off about Autumn right for the start.

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 - Tweets of the Day (4/13/12)

The following are real tweets from real people during Friday's episode of The Price is Right, starting with our No. 1 Tweet of the Day. Enjoy.

 @ANDERSONshaun I wish I could have the audience from The Price Is Right follow me around and help me with life decisions.

@SuntanSnowman *Wins a trip to Hawaii on The Price Is Right* "Can I take Manuella with me? No? I don't wanna play."

@AshMas_86 This girls eyebrows on Price Is Right.....#woof

@JoeyCash570 I think this girl on the price is right is definitely a crackhead

@porkherchop you know you are unemployed when you know all the names of the showcase girls on the price is right

@lfry21 this girl on the price is right, just did a shout out to her "kitty" lmao

@drives_boats Watching the price is right....is it wrong to want to see someones hand get stuck in the wheel and pull them down ?

@MattFlanagann So many idiots on the price is right

@adler_dynasty some guy is wearing a cleveland browns shirt on the Price is Right.. what are the chances he wins?

@Spaeth_ I bet the models on The Price Is Right are always excited to hug the ugly contestants when they win something

@thebryangibson If i could have the voice of the announcer from the price is right i think id just cry...

@Jordz999 I swear the people on the price is right have never been in a social setting before - okay you've won a stereo, simmer

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??

The Price is Right - 4/12/12 Episode

Few things in life grind my gears more than when contestants who don't know how to bid on The Price is Right still win.

I don't care if you have no idea how much that new set of luggage costs. If you're the last person to go on bidders' row, you bid either $1 or $1 more than someone else. It gives you the best chance of winning.

This is not rocket science.

And yet, today we have Pheleta, who after bids of (in order) $912, $800, $499 on the his/her watches, goes with...

I mean, why bid $801 when you can decrease your chances of winning by about 90 percent?

Pheleta did not win.

Nor did she learn her lesson. In the very next round, Pheleta was again the fourth to bid, and after submissions of $600, $400 and $620 on the Wii family package, she goes with...

Alas, even this blind squirrel found her nut. Life is not fair, sometimes.

Passing the buck
In clutch situations - be it sports, game shows, or everyday life - winners rise to the top and take responsibility. Losers blow it and find someone else to blame.