The Price is Right

In college my roommates and i always used to watch the Price is Right (10am ch4 in chambana). It was always my dream from then to be on the show, if nothing else to at least go to a taping of the show. That was one of the high priority things I was going to do while in Vegas. On Tuesday, November 29, my aunt, uncle and I went to the Price is Right taping at the CBS Studios in Hollywood. One more thing i could checkoff my list!

I ordered tickets online. its much better than trying to send a SASE and waiting for tickets. alternatively one could go to the studio and pick up tickets, however you cannot get same day tickets. Online is the best method -- it shows which days shows are being taped and if tickets are available. you can get upto 4 tickets online.

getting in the audience is a long procedure. first you show your ticket to get an order of arrival number. The gates to the studio open at 6am, we arrived at 6:30am and got numbers 112-114. Then we were told to come back at 8am, so we wandered off to the Farmers Market which is just south of the studio on Fairfax.

People with the lower numbers got there early, like 3am. Its definitely beneficial to get the lower numbers, you get seated in the rows right behind contestant row. Probably want a number less than 30. Next time i go i'll shoot for the real early number and get there around 3am.

ok, back to the story. we get back at 8am. they have everyone sit in order of the order of arrival number. then they go through and check the ticket (email printout or paper ticket), and assign a number. Nothing fancy, they write it on the email printout or ticket with a sharpie. This number is close to the order of arrival number but might be lower due to people leaving. Our numbers were 110-112. Then we were told to show up at 10am.

We got breakfast and then came back at 10am. We were seated again according to the new number (sharpie). Then they came around with numbered blue cards that had a detachable stub. On the stub we fill out our name and Social Security number, and then they verify that info and collect the stub. Bring a drivers license and social security card with you.

There are only like 4-5 pages doing this for over 300 people, so that procedure takes some time. Afterwards some pages come around and start making the nametags. By about noon we have our nametags. Yay! Now i feel like i'm gonna be in the audience!

Once you fill out the stub and get your nametag you cant leave the studio grounds. there is a small store with some food items, but really you cant get a good lunch. so i'd advise getting a huge breakfast and bringing some snacks in a paper/plastic bag as you cant bring a backpack.

next was the interview process. this is how they select contestants. a group of about 10 people go stand in front of a few producers and they ask a few questions. "Hey Monish, where are you from? what do you do?" and that's it. then you go wait outside the studio.

There was no pattern for the people picked as contestants. Some old, young, different ethnicities. Not all the people picked were rah-rah types, there were some pretty boring people on stage.

Taping began around 2:30pm and we were let in about 15 minutes early. the studio is cold and much smaller than it appears on TV. Rich Field, the announcer, warmed up the crowd. He brought a few people on stage to dance, had a few people take the mic and announce "Come on down, you're the next contestant on the Price is Right!!!" Eventually Bob Barker came out and the show began. The show portions went by fast. During breaks Bob would talk to the audience. Cool guy, answered a bunch of questions in a genuine manner. Everything ended around 4pm and we left.

The show will air on Jan 12, 2006. I wont go into details about what happened on the show. I did not get called as a contestant :(, but i will be back!