Reminiscing

I thought it might be fun to post the story of when I went to the Price is Right. I found this in a long-lost file in my e-mail. Hope you enjoy...I'm going to try and post the video soon!

Well, we did it! Our dream of seeing the Price Is Right & Bob Barker in the flesh (as weathered as it is) has come true! We had no idea how difficult and gruelling it would be to get on the show.... we showed up at 5:30am on the morning of our taping to wait in line for an hour... only to find out we had STAND-BY tickets...we hadn't gotten there early enough.
I guess the "hard-core" Price Is right fans arrived the night before and camped out. We were told to come back at 11:30am to see if anyone would not show up. (I'm not sure why you wouldn't once you have the tickets!) Anyway, we went back to our hotel for a nap and showed up at 11:30 to wait in line again...this time for about 1 1/2 hours. Keep in mind this is in an outdoor waiting area. We can't believe how many Canadians were there....those Canucks love their Price Is Right.
Well, the moment finally arrived when the stand-by people started getting tickets... would you believe that we missed it by 3 people?!!!! AUGH!!!!!!! Fortunately we noticed a group of red T-shirts that said "University of Guelph loves Bob" (for those of you from far away...Guelph is about an hour from London, where I live)

We went over to talk to them and told them our story. Our luck was changing... there was a group of 16 of them, but to qualify as a group you need 20 people. They had already given their 4 extra tickets away that day, but were coming back the next and said we could just meet them in the parking lot at 10am. (sounds like we were making some kind of illegal deal ...don't worry, its all ligit)

What a GRRREAT alternative to arriving at 2am and sleeping on the street just to get a ticket! We had a nice sound sleep in our hotel room and met the Guelph crew the next morning. Turns out one of the organizers won his way on stage only to be outsmarted by the secret X. Bummer. But he did get to spin the big wheel and keep the desk set from contestants row.

OK, we know we're in California, but the temperatures yesterday were COLD. It was overcast and raining and we waited 4 1/2 hours in this outdoor "shelter" with hard metal benches and a concession stand. Wow, talk about dedication.
The moment finally arrived when we were "interviewed" by the producer. Basically he asked our name, where we were from and what we did. Karla got the added question of if she watches the show. (what kind of a question is that anyway??? Like she'd wait that long for a show she's never heard of)

After we were ushered to more hard benches in a windy corridor, we were asked to sign a release form to be on the WAYNE BRADY show! (for those of you that don't know, he's the hilarious black guy from Who's Line Is It Anyway?) How cool is that? And then he walked by!
As you can imagine, the excitement was overwhelming. Not only would we be on The Price Is Right, but the Wayne Brady show too!

FINALLY we were allowed to enter the studio...about 10 minutes before taping began. If we have learned one thing on this trip, it is that NOTHING is as it appears on TV. (you'd think I'd realize that before since I work in the industry!!) The studio was SO SMALL. Like think small and then it was smaller. It was like a miniature set or something....crazy....and surreal.

After putting up with a cheezy version of the American National Anthem, the announcer appeared and "entertained" us until the man himself walked out on stage. Wow, what a moment! Because of the wild and crazy fans cheering, you couldn't hear anything the announcer said, including the names to come on down. There was a stage manager with signs that said the people's names. One of the first people called was the guy sitting directly in front of us from the Guelph group!!! It was so exciting to actually have someone to cheer on. He won his way on stage to lose an SUV in Lucky 7. However, he did well on the Big Wheel ($0.85) and was in the showcase showdown at the end of the show. He lost. However, the woman that won is a cute little lady that was across from us in line. She's from Minnesota and vacations in Yuma.

We were on the edge of our seats the whole time! It was exhausting! THEN Wayne Brady came out to tape some shtick for his show. He wanted to "come on down" and guess where he sat in the audience??? Yep, in the empty chair right in front of us! So, we will definitely be on the Wayne Brady show the end of next week AND on The Price Is Right March 3.