When did they start wearing costumes on The Price Is Right?

It’s on at the gym sometimes, and I see prospective contestants wearing costumes, presumably to get noticed. When did this start?

Are you sure you’re watching TPIR and not Let’s Make A Deal?

Since3 this is about a tv show. let’s move this to Café Society from GQ.

samclem, moderator

Must be fairly recently if so, because most I ever recall is sometimes people show up with a novelty T-shirt with something written about the show or host or something or other.

Costume wearing on Let’s Make a Deal dates back to its original incarnation in the 1960s. I had The Price Is Right on ten minutes ago and didn’t see any costumes, just seas of matching t-shirts.

If the OP was looking at LMaD and thinking it was TPIR, s/he would naturally think a change had occurred.

Especially considering that LMAD is on just before TPIR (in our market, anyway). Was the host a nerdy-looking white guy or a really white black guy?

Have to agree with everyone here.

Unless there are people in TPiS audience wearing matching t-shirts, or some shirt with a message to the host, I’ve never seen LMaD style costumes.

And LMaD costumes back in the Monty Hall days were the biggest reason to watch the show. That and seeing a $1000 bill come out of a small machine or Monty’s suit pocket.

FWIW, plug TPIR Costume in Google and at the bottom of the page is a Yelp post from 2009 asking for advice on what costume to wear to a TPIR taping.

While nowhere near LMAD’s level, I have seen the occasional person wearing rather unusual garb in the TPIR audience.