In the Audience - The Price Is Right

Whenever I had to stay home sick from school as a kid, there was only one thing I watched on TV - The Price is Right. My older sister can testify that if we were feeling under the weather, TPIR and mom’s soup did the trick. The thought of being on the show never really crossed my mind… until I moved to California.

Over the summer, I decided I wanted to ring in my 20th birthday by going to as many TV show tapings as I could. Most TV shows tape in Los Angeles or Hollywood, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Malibu. While doing some hardcore ticket scouting, I found tickets to The Price is Right for the day after my birthday. How perfect! I texted my friends and booked the tickets. We were going to The Price is Right!

The tickets I got were General Admission, which actually means that your spot in the audience is not guaranteed. It’s basically first come first serve by the order that you get in line. Most of the time GA ticketholders make it in no problem, but we didn’t want to take our chances. The taping started at 8:30 AM and we arrived around 7:30 AM just to be safe. I thought we might be some of the first people there but noooooooo. The line was already about 100 people long. I went with three of my best friends - Angela, Kami, and Yvonne. We stood in line in front of CBS Studios for about 40 minutes before they let us inside.

THE PROCESS:

We got through the gate and were handed papers to sign our lives away. We each got a contestant number and most exciting of all, our nametags!! Fun fact - there are a few people walking around writing nametags who all have to attend a handwriting workshop so the nametags match exactly! While we waited in the holding area, there was a little snack stand and a merchandise store. We got headshots taken (for the producers, I assume) and then got funneled through the group picture station. The next phase of waiting in line was the group interview. We stood with about 25 other people as the producer asked each of us some basic questions. He asked me my name (Danielle), what I do (student at Pepperdine), what I study (IMC & Spanish), and what I hope to go into (entertainment). Essentially, they’re scoping out the audience for who is the most excited to be there and who would have great energy if they made it to contestant’s row. After that was more standing in line around the CBS lot. We went through security where they took our phones and cameras. We were brought to another holding area where we stayed for at least an hour, but it felt like more. They had another snack stand and played past episodes of TPIR to keep us entertained. If I were to go again, I’d definitely bring a deck of cards to pass the time. Finally, we were brought into the studio!

IN THE AUDIENCE:

Picture what it would look like if the 1970’s threw up - then add twice the glitter and four times the neon - that’s what The Price is Right studio set looks like. It is also much, much smaller than it appears on television. There was a CBS worker who placed us in specific seats and we got perhaps the best spot in the entire studio - directly behind contestant’s row. The producers seemed to still be scoping out the audience to look for potential contestants. Before the taping started, we danced at our seats and got to know the people sitting around us. The warm up guy came out, reviewed the rules, and the taping began!

Even though none of us were called down to contestants row, we had SO. MUCH. FUN. The studio is truly incredible and seeing the crew change the set before your eyes is like TV magic. Tthe models are GORGEOUS and have their own little magic system for presenting prizes. The crowd was cheering so loudly that you actually couldn’t hear if they called you down. There was a guy holding cue cards that you had to look at to see if it was your name being called. We befriended the sweetest grandmother named Shirley (pictured above) who made it up on stage with Drew, and getting to cheer her on was definitely a highlight of the taping. Drew spent some time after the taping to chat with the audience, and he even wished me a happy birthday (thanks to Angela screaming at him).

WE'RE NOT DONE YET: Overall, I would highly recommend going to a taping if you are ever in the Los Angeles area. It is a pretty long commitment, given that the taping takes right around five hours. I’ve been watching the show since I was a kid, so it was particularly surreal for me to actually be in the audience. Even though none of us had our names called, we had a blast and LOVED watching our episode on TV when it aired. One of the perks of living near LA is that we’ll get to try again! I’ll be in The Price is Right audience many more times until it’s my turn to COME ON DOWN!

Somewhere under a palm tree,

Danielle

#california #tvshow