Aurora's Blog

So, I’m getting into Price is Right FAQs that I’ve gotten since being on the show. And this question gets its own post.

Disclaimer: I don’t work for, and have never worked for, The Price is Right. So, I don’t have the actual answers. But, as an avid Price is Right watcher and former contestant, I can give my best ideas.

1) Wear a homemade shirt. (It doesn’t literally have to be homemade – printed is fine, but an original shirt.) If you’ve got an idea with a pun on Drew Carey, George Gray, any of the models’ names, or the names of games – that’s even better.

(Military uniform – also a great idea if that applies to you.)

2) Go with somebody! The bigger the group, the better. My feeling is that if you go with 10 people or more, you are almost guaranteed that someone from your group will get on. But even going with 1 other person is better than going solo. (I see plenty of people come from groups of 3s, so worry not about getting to 10.)

3) Think about the timing of when you’re going. If you’re a young person, you might want to stay away from spring break or summer tapings where a ton of young people are trying to get on the show. I’d only want to fight with as much of my demographic as I absolutely have to. I went on February 6th (2013). (If you’re a bit of a less-young person, you might want to consider going when all of these college students are running the place so you have less competition in your group.) (This piece of advice is even more speculation than others. I’d say it’s the guessiest guess of all of these.)

4) Be personable! You don’t have to be completely nuts. But, just have fun. Be excited that you’re at The Price is Right, and let that excitement shine through! Show it in the picture they take of you. (It’s not a passport photo. It’s for a game show! Give a big ol’ smile.) Show it in the interview. And show it while you’re in the audience.

The people I’d sat with said that after I’d left (to contestants’ row), they heard from someone who worked at TPiR that producers are watching the audience, and might change their plans for who they call next.

(I can’t say for certain that’s true. But it would not surprise me! Anna (who was next to me in contestants’ row) was called up after talking with Drew during a commercial break. And how many times have you watched the show and heard Drew say something like, “Oh, he loves barbershop (or whatever). We were just talking about that during the commercial break.”)

Now, how do you talk to Drew during a commercial break? I don’t know. Good question. People just kind of yelled out to him. Sometimes he answered – sometimes more thoroughly than others. And some people just didn’t get to talk to him. (But don’t worry too much. I never tried to talk to him during the commercials, and I still got up there. And people certainly did talk to him who didn’t get called.)

5) This is the most important! The interview.

In your interview, you will most likely be asked “What do you do for a living?” and/or “Where are you from?”

It is my opinion that they are absolutely not actually asking either of those questions. What I think they’re really asking is – “What makes you different, and why should I put you on The Price is Right? And tell me in a minute or less.”

They can’t actually say that ’cause people would probably freeze up a bit, and the interview process would seem more calculated. And the battle of sob and/or happy and/or childhood Price is Right stories would get real ridiculous, real fast.

But, my personal advice is that if there is anything that makes you unique – if you have 10 grandchildren, if you have a cool Price is Right story (side note: on Wheel of Fortune the other night, the guy had this great story about writing Pat Sajak asking to be on Wheel of Fortune. Pat wrote back and said the man couldn’t be on the show as a 7-year-old, but could have an autograph – and apparently forgot to include the autograph – so you know, something like that) – anyway, if you have a “hook” I guess I’ll call it – say that!

When they asked me what I did, I wasn’t all, “Oh, super boring stuff with computers.” I said I like adventures and just finished 52 half marathons in 52 weeks. It’s not a job interview. It’s a game show interview. Pull out anything you’ve got in the one minute you’ve got to do it.

And I will pick up with some more Price is Right questions tomorrow.