Why is it, every contestant that gets up on stage on The Price is Right has no idea what the price of anything is, has no idea if a china cabinent costs more then a dish washer, and never knows whether to spin or stay on 50 cents. But when that same person is in the audience, they’re screaming at the top of their lungs "Asprin costs more then toilet paper…$1400!!!..1 dollar, 1 dollar!!!
Why is it, every contestant that gets up on stage on The Price is Right has no idea what the price of anything is,
has no idea if a china cabinent costs more then a dish washer, and never knows whether to spin or stay on 50
cents?
Because people are stupid. Particularly The Price is Right contestants. Ever notice how sometimes the bidding goes like this:
CONTESTANT #1: $1000!
CONTESTANT #2: $1400!
CONTESTANT #3: ONE DOLLAR!!!
CONTESTANT #4: $1600!
Contestant #3 is too stupid to realize that Contestant #4 can bid $2 and thus negate Contestant #3’s bid :eek:. Contestant #4 is also too stupid to realize this and thus places a normal bid :eek: :eek:. I swear, one of these days I’m going to write a pamphlet on bidding strategy and sell it to people in line outside of the TPIR studios…
But when that same person is in the audience, they’re screaming at the top of their lungs "Asprin costs
more then toilet paper…$1400!!!..1 dollar, 1 dollar!!!
Because audience participation is encouraged. Screaming at the contestants on stage is fun, and if the contestant is from your little group, if you scream louder it guarantees more “face time” for you and your group.
Also, chalk a lot of it up to stage fright. I can scream the answers at the TV until I’m blue in the face, but I imagine that once I’m up there, under the lights, and the pressure is on, my mind could easily go blank.
Actually, if contestant #4 has legitimate reason to believe that the prize is worth approx. $1600, then its not stupid for him or her to refuse to bid $2 and negate #3’s bid. However, he or she is still pretty stupid for failing to bid $1401 and hedge his or her bet.
I’ve thought about this one before. I believe that while any one individual may not know the price of an item (escpecially when on stage and under pressure), a group as a whole can usually come to a reasonable concensus.
Proving my own hypothesis that people are stupid, what I should have done was make Contestant #4’s bid in the neighborhood of $800 or thereabouts; more that Contestant #3 but less than either of the first two contestants. Oops. :o
Actually, s/he’s not. Don’t you get something like $1,000 for hitting the price on the nose?
$100, IIRC, but they don’t have the female contestants reach into Bob’s pocket anymore.
Also, IIRC the contestant who spins the wheel and gets $1.00 total, gets $100 and a bonus spin. If s/he hits $1 on one spin, then they get $1000 bonus.
(Disclaimer - I stopped watching the show since I got a day job. I could be wrong on both counts.)
Do they still run the showcase bonus where if the final winning contestant bids within $100 of his/her showcase (without going over{sup]TM[/sup]), he/she wins both showcases?
holdenmagroin:
Are you kidding? The answer is simple: when it’s not their own chance of winning something on the line, they don’t care about offering uninformed opinions. When they could really win or lose, they have to be more cautious.
Best “P. is R.” moment I personally witnessed:
Contestant #1: $600!
Contestant #2: $500!
Contestant #3: $700!
Contestant #4: “SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! YEAH BABY!!! WOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!”
Bob Barker: “Well now, contestant #3 already bid $700 so you’ll have to…”
Contestant #4: “Wha…? It’s a…? huh?? ummmmm… SIX HUNDRED NINETY NINE !!!”
No, fortunately he did not win anything.
Cool! Something I can actually comment on with some authority. YEAH BABY!!! WOOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!
Actually it goes like this:
During the “Showcase Showdown” the contestant who comes closest to $1.00 without going over in one spin or a combination of two spins, will be in the showcase at the end of the show.
Any contestant that gets exactly $1.00 in one spin or a combination of two spins wins $1000 and a bonus spin (one spin only). If, on the bonus spin, the wheel stops on $1.00 the contestant wins an additional $10,000 for a total of $11,000
Yup, they sure do. I’ve only seen it happen once though (and I’ve seen my share of TPIR - actually scheduled my classes around it in college…that and the Andy Griffith show).
Yes, but I think they changed the range to within $150 (not sure, I only catch it occasionally).
To get on the show, you have to order tickets and then get there REALLY early, when it is still dark out, to actually get in. Then you come back at a decent hour, with your name badge, and go through a line. In groups of about 4 or 5, a guy interviews you very briefly, trying to determine who is high energy and who would be dead wood on stage.
The day I went there was a substitute guy doing the interviews.
Oddly, every contestant that day was female, blonde and had huge breasts…can’t imagine why…other ways to guarantee to get on is to wear a military uniform, be with a large group or simply be hysterical.
As far as why the bids are so ridiculous…the audience isn’t exactly made up of Harvard graduates (myself included) and there is the nervousness factor.
The best of late was a woman who bid $6000 on a surfboard.
(In case you’re wondering, she overbid.)
Thanks Photog, I miscounted my zeros.
Wow, something I actually know something about! Here goes:
Currently, on The Price is Right, a contestant who makes a perfect bid on an item up for bids during the show gets a $500 bonus.
A contestant who gets $1.00 on the wheel gets $1000 and a bonus spin. If the bonus spin lands on one of the two green sections (.05 or .15), the contestant gets an extra $5000. If the wheel lands on the dollar, the contestant gets an extra $10,000.
A contestant who wins his or her showcase, and is $250 or less from the actual retail price gets both showcases.
All of our departing contestants will receive:
Rice-A-Roni, the one you sautee and simmer to flavor perfection. Quick and easy, perfect side dish, Rice-A-Roni, it’s the San Francisco Treat.
And Madge the manicurist says try Palmolive mild diswashing liquid. Palmolive softens hands while you do dishes, makes loads of thick, long-lasting suds, Palmolive.
Portions of the preceding program, not affecting the outcome of competition, have been edited for broadcast.
This has been a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production.
Also, by the time the camera starts rolling, you’ve tired because 1) you got up at 5 am , 2) stood around for 2 hours, 3) said “hi” to Opal, then 4) stood in line for another hour, then 5) finally sat in your chair, where you wait another half hour.
Then, the bright lights come on, and you’re dazed, and you get called up to the front. The light’s in your eyes whatever way you look, and everybody’s screaming. You’re lucky if you catch half of what Roddy says, then everybody’s screaming at you what to bid. Of course, on TV you hear everybody in the audience equally, so it’s easy to tell what the consensus is, but in the studio you can be swayed by a vocal pocket of stupid people who are close to you.
Then it’s the last person’s turn to bid. There are no clues for him to tell him what the first three people bid, so if he didn’t hear them he either has to a) ask bob and sound like a dumbass on national tv, b) just guess something coherent, and risk sounding like a dumbass on national tv, or c) just say hi to Opal.
I rule the game at home, but after close examination of the process, I must admit that, would I have been selected to be a contestant, I would have looked like a dumbass.
-LV