The Price Is Right's wheel went absolutely bananas today
Say what you will about The Price Is Right, it maintains a stubbornly old-school approach to cash and prizes. None of this “who wants to be a millionaire” nonsense for them; no, you’ll get your year’s supply of Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix and you’ll like it.
At least, that’s how it’s supposed to go. But things went a little haywire this morning on the set of the long-running game show, in a way that was extremely financially remunerative for the contestants. Essentially, the Wheel (you know, the one they spin to see who’s going to the Showcase Showdown) decided it had had enough of the small cash awards, and started handing out jackpots like there was a fire sale on the damn things.
See, next month is the 10th anniversary of Drew Carey’s tenure as host of the show. (Only 25 years more to go to beat Barker’s record, Drew. That must be an inviting thought.) To celebrate, Carey announced that whoever spun exactly $1 during their turn at the Wheel would win $10,000, instead of the usual $1,000. Presumably you’re a step ahead of us here, because yes, all three of them spun $1, winning $30,000 total in one go.
But it didn’t end there. Recovering nicely, Carey upped the ante, giving them all a bonus spin and saying anyone who landed on the 5 or 15 would get another ten grand, but if you landed on the one dollar, you’d get $25,000. Well, two of the contestants promptly said, “See you later, student loans” (we might be projecting, here) and landed right on the dollar. The show ended up paying out $80,000 in the course of a couple minutes, and presumably triggering an emergency call to the wheel-fixing guy.
But as a round-up of tweets from Uproxx notes, our heart kind of goes out to the guy who blew it on the last spin.