You may have heard what happened on The Price is Right the other day. If you didn't, give this a watch and then we'll discuss it on the other side. Pay particular attention to how subdued Drew Carey's reactions are to a seeming miracle…
Okay, here's what happened. There was a fellow in the audience — a guy named Ted who is a devout Price is Right fan. He watches the show every day and either takes notes on or memorizes the prices. As you might imagine, the program sometimes gives away the same prize more than once. Throughout the show, Ted was shouting out, as folks in the audience do, suggestions to the contestants on stage who are guessing prices.
This particular showcase consisted of goodies that had appeared on past shows. Ted knew the prices, did a quick bit of addition and yelled out the right answer. On stage, the contestant (Terry) heard him and gave Ted's answer as his guess. It is not known if Ted and Terry knew each other or not. As it turned out the price was exactly right.
On The Price is Right, the showcase contestants give their guesses, then the show goes to commercial and when they come back, the winner is announced. During the break, the show's staff, recognizing that an exact, seemingly impossible "guess" had been made, became concerned that something might not be Kosher. As you may remember, there was once a gentleman named Michael Larson who did the "impossible" on another CBS game show, Press Your Luck. Mr. Larson had figured out a pattern in the game board and, quite legally, exploited it to win more than $110,000 on a show where wins of under $10,000 were the norm. There was a long tape stop and inquiry before that show's producers decided no rule had been violated. When they did, taping resumed and the "win" was certified.
Something similar happened here. The reason Drew Carey's reaction was so subdued is that during the break, he was told what had happened and had participated in the debates as to how it should be handled. He, like the show's producers, felt that the win seemed wrong in some way, with particular emphasis on the other contestant's situation. She made a great bid, apparently with no assistance, but she lost…to a guy who was given the answer. Still, that's how it works on The Price is Right. The audience shouts out numbers all the time and there's no rule that disqualifies a contestant if they use one of those suggestions and it turns out to be correct.
There's no word from within the show as to whether this will prompt any rule changes. Probably not since it's part of the fun that the audience participates like that. What they may do though is keep Ted out of the building. I hope Terry gave him a cut of the showcase.