You can actually pinpoint the second when this Price Is Right contestant’s heart rips in half
Aux Features Robert
Over the many decades of slightly wrong The Price Is Right bids, none that we can recall is quite as painful as a recent loss by a deeply unfortunate woman named Jennifer. She came to the show perhaps hoping to leave with the keys to a new car or some other nice stuff for her home. She left the Showcase segment as one of the most excruciating examples of a game show loss we’ve ever seen.
During the episode in question, host Drew Carey announces the real value of items Jennifer and her competitor Robert have just bid on. He tells Robert that his bid was off by $6,083. Robert groans at how wrong he was. Then Carey, who has a look on his face like he knows he holds a game show nuclear weapon in his hands and is equally excited and wary of the moment he has to detonate it, gets to Jennifer.
“You were over by $3,” he says.
Watch it happen. It’s devastating.
Jennifer crouches down behind the podium and stands back up with a hand over her forehead and an expression of stunned disbelief. Carey congratulates Robert, who runs off to get his prize, and suggests Jennifer enjoy some ice cream or any other comfort food that might help take the sting off her loss. “That was… crushing,” Carey says as Jennifer exits the stage.
Real sadists can revisit this clip whenever they want, slowing it down to find the exact moment when Jennifer’s heart, like another sad wretch before her, is ripped in half on live TV thanks to her choo-choo-choosing the wrong number.
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134 Comments
The female Ralph Wiggum.
Jeopardy that same day had an unusual ending as well, although not quite like the above. The Chase last night had another unusual moment, but that was due to the stupidity of the production staff. The next-to-last episode had what was known as a Lazarus episode, where all three contestants were caught by the Chaser. Thus, for the Final Chase, one contestant is selected and play for a minimum amount and no head start. Because of how stupid the ABC version has been with dollar amounts, the contestant played for a total of… $250,000. Now, you might consider that a stupid amount to assign, but consider this. If the three contestants had actually Banked all the money they earned, they would have gotten $225,000. Next episode, the actual season finale, had all three contestants play exceptionally well and only took home $290,000.
Does the game still have the rule that a contestant who guesses exactly on their showcase gets both? Because that would make her overbid doubly heartbreaking.
It’s within $250, not exact. The one time somebody did get the exact number, Carey thought he cheated and tried to downplay the win and hurried to the credits. Turns out the guy didn’t cheat. He and his buddy studied the prices of the various prizes the show uses and were able to exploit that.
Thanks for the info. It’s been 30 years since I’ve watched TPIR so the rules are a bit fuzzy.
Carey mentions ice cream. Just remember, nothing gets chocolate out.
That’s ok, her and Drew can still “Bee” friends.
I kept my pants on in that version.
Fire does.
We laugh now, but wait until the leprechaun tells her to burn down the studio.
It’s her own fault. No way a Super Nintendo Chalmers is worth $23, 294.
“I don’t watch game shows for the entertainment. I watch because I’m an emotion vampire and the contestants feed me like an all-you-eat cheap buffet!”
Colin? Colin Robinson??
Wow its been a while, Drew Carey with the big white beard is blowing my mind.
He needs to shave that thing off. He looks like they found him sleeping in an alley in Reseda.
I like it, but I am very pro-beard
Strangely manga-y looking Fry there…..
https://theinfosphere.org/Reincarnation#Act_III:_Action_Delivery_Force
Yep! It’s from the Reincarnation episode.
he looks like me after a year of quarantine.
i thought it was jack black.
“looks” like indeed…
That’s how I felt when I saw Letterman with a beard for the first time, too. Some people can pull off the look, some people just look like a crazy person who’s been wandering through the woods alone for a few months.
I think he is, have you seen the housing prices in CA lately?
You read his biography too, I see.
That was genuinely unsettling, . . . like, my initial reaction was ‘has the lockdown made it so networks let someone THAT unkempt on the air?’I excepted a bird to fly out. . . .
expected, durr.
He looks like the dad from Teen Wolf now. I dig it.
It doesn’t even look like a real beard. It looks like he’s going to do a SpongeBob gag at any moment and just rip a fake beard off.
The beard, huh? If that’s the case you don’t want to google, “Drew Carey Lingerie”
In 5 years I won’t be able to tell him apart from Kenny Rogers (RIP)
It’s like the caveman commercials are back and everyone is well dressed yet extremely hairy.
Cripes! That’s Drew Carey?!?!
When I scrolled by the video thumbnail I thought he was wearing a big bandana for a face mask.
It’s not a bad look for him, but my mind just refuses to believe that’s Drew Carey, even after hearing his voice.
Looks like he’s trying to go for a David Letterman thing, and it ain’t working for him
The Drewd abides.
I thought Joaquin Phoenix was filling in for him.
I seriously thought it was Randy Quaid for a second.
He was a contestant on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune a few weeks ago and I almost didn’t recognize him. I assumed Price is Right was on a COVID hiatus or something.
Yeah I was totally about to comment that it’d be a long time since I watched and I didn’t know Carey’s beard game got so strong haha.
Didn’t he also used to host an improv show?
“I mean, ice cream… whatever. That was… crushing.” He sounds pretty rusty.
He hosted the improv group but he wasn’t acting in all of the skits like Wayne Brady and the other guys were. He asked for audience suggestions, buzzed them, and gave them material to work with. Maybe he might appear in the last skit? Drew wasn’t the best improvisation guy, I think, and some of the skits were a little formulaic, like song genres.
Drew Carey, you’re not Orson Welles.
It’s very Lettermanesque.
The beard, the long hair, and the goggles… he looks like an entirely different person.
First time I’ve seen him in a while, too. My first thought was “When did they start having Mandy Patinkin hosting TPIR but dubbing Drew Carey’s voice in?”
He’s trying to look like Letterman.
My favorite TPIR moment ever was when a woman wildly overbid on her showcase, she bid something like $95,000 at a time when the showcases never exceeded a third of that amount, and her competitor immediately started screaming “One dollar! One dollar!”
Top 5….. four overly excited samoans hugging the stuffing out of bob barker, and of course Yolanda. He played it up a lot better than Carey did.
My favourite one was in the opening bids where the firs contestant bid $1, the second bid $2, and the third bid $3. Bob Barker looked at contestant number three in complete disbelief, as they literally just handed the round to contestant number four, who of course, bid $4.
I saw one where contestant #4 overbid #3 by a dollar and #3 ended up getting the price exactly right, and Bob actually rubbed it in, basically saying “you pulled a dick move and karma bit you in the ass”
people who bid $1 over the person before them are absolute dicks. i would love to hear the conversations between them all while they’re sitting there waiting for the next round.
It’s not a dick move; it’s a strategy that maximizes the fourth contestant’s chances of winning. The fourth contestant should never bid anything other than one dollar more than one of the other contestants or $1. It just didn’t work out that time.
I had a friend who went on the show back in the Bob Barker days, and got called up in the very first round and didn’t get a winning bid until the very last round. Bob even roasted him a little going into that last round, so it’s good he made it in on that one!But in one of the earlier, unsuccessful rounds, my friend bid 1$ UNDER the bid from the guy before him. Bob said to my friend something along the lines of, “John*, you’re going to look back on this for a long time and regret that.”*name changed to protect the embarrassed.Eventually my friend did make it to the showcase where he wildly overbid, in a showdown where the other person was wildly off, too (can’t remember whether the other person was over or under though). I can’t be too harsh with him though, he was a young married kid still in college (I think he was actually on his honeymoon), and I know at that age I didn’t know shit about fuck, either. I still don’t. Now that I’m firmly in my 40s I probably still wouldn’t know what anything costs.
Wow, I think I knew more about bidding on The Price is Right when I was in elementary school than your friend did while in college.
I hope in the next round the first person bid $4, since that automatically wins.
“$4″.“Aw damn, that was going to be my guess. Uh… $3, I guess?”
Either I’m misunderstanding or you’re misremembering.Why would someone open the bidding at $1? Was he hoping that everybody else would overbid? And then contestant #2 bet $2, also assuming everyone else would overbid? And then contestant #3 bet $3 assuming . . . what? That the fourth contestant would overbid when a bid of $4 would automatically win?
Neither: Yes, the opening person bid $1, assuming the others would screw up, it’s not an uncommon tactic in the Price is right. Unfortunately for person number one, person number two didn’t go for a risky, accurate guess, they just did $2, assuming three and four would slug it out, which was pretty likely, considering three logically needed to do a guess to have a chance. Unfortunately for two though, three didn’t think things through and just said $3, which meant bidder four basically had the game handed to them and just bid $4. No one really knew what was going through contestant three’s head when they did that, it was why it was so funny.
Yeah contestant #4 never seem to know bidding strategy. You generally have a 1 in 3 chance of winning. All you have to do is guess which of the other bids you think is below the price, and bid one dollar more. The exception is if one of the first three got the correct price. Then there’s nothing you can do.
I’ve never seen the show. How is bidding closer to the actual amount a bad thing?
If you go over you lose automatically. Like blackjack.
Ah. Thanks!
Making it even worse is that if you’re within $100, you win both showcases. So she not only barely lost her prizes, she barely missed out on winning both sets of prizes, which according to my quick math, would have added up to around $60,000 in stuff.
That really stinks. I hope they gave her… like, at least cab fare or something.
Rules of the show says that she now owes them $23, 291. It’s a risky show. Lots of post-credits suicide.
Which is a little odd to me – when I went to a taping (back in 2003, so still Bob Barker), my buddy got called up and ended up getting to and winning his Showcase Showdown (he also spun a $1.00 on the wheel). For like 90% of the stuff he won, especially the big ticket items, they just gave him money. Much easier to pay your taxes when it’s cash vs. an item you probably can’t even resell to cover the tax liability**The major items they gave him cash for were a massive 15+ foot tall American Flag (still in that post 9/11 patriotism!), a jukebox and a party/pontoon boat.
In order to even get up there, she would have had to win the One Bid, so she at least won something. No idea if she won her pricing game, though.
SPAULDING, YOU’LL GET NOTHING AND LIKE IT
You have to be within $250 now to win both showcases. They changed the rule a couple of years ago.
They do that already if you’re within $250 you win both showcases as long as you’re not over. Also winning that $60 grand in stuff would cost her about $30 grand in taxes as game show winning are taxable.
i once heard the first person you meet backstage after you win is an irs agent!
There was an ‘Expert Witness’ a long time back with a winner:
https://tv.avclub.com/what-happens-when-you-win-the-price-is-right-1798239869
Every week I learn something new and infuriating about the USA. Taxing game show winnings? And Google tells me you tax lottery and casino wins too? Crazy.
Income is income, baby.
And now she owes them her first born male child.
And about $25,000 in taxes!
For which she has to pay all applicable taxes. Many game show contestants get a rude shock when the bill comes.
This has to stay like this now, otherwise your comment loses automatically!
Since she was on the showcase she likely won at least 2 prizes before that so I give zero shits for her. All my shits go to the people who get to “Come On Down” and just get stuck there.
The only prize guaranteed is the One Bid prize. You can win nothing in your pricing game and still get to the Showcase.
I always kind of feel for the people who make in on stage but won a bid for a shitty prize and then don’t win anything else. I just know if all I won was a dinning room table, then I would probably just not accept it.
sore winner?
No, just logical. They just have some prizes that aren’t that great. Sometimes it is a prize no one would really want. Then other times it is a prize that only appeals to a certain group of people. No one is a tiny apartment in NYC is going to want to keep the above ground hot tub. But if you accept the prize, you now have to pay taxes on it and now you have what ever it is. You can always accept the item and then sell it, but that process might not be worth the money you make in the end. There is also the possible situation where the tax bill is more than you can afford. In that case you don’t have much of a decision, as you have to pay the taxes before you get the items.There have been lots of cases where people could not afford to accept prizes. There was also a guy on TPIR that had a great shot at winning a car but instead he purposefully walked with $1500 from the game. This all happens a lot in any contest that deals with non-cash prizes.
Hey, at least they got rid of the grandfather clocks and popcorn carts.
Sorry for the late reply: I used to sell Rainbow vacuum cleaners. One day I was doing a demonstration at this couple’s house and I noticed they had a really nice (for the time) bar set, so I mentioned I liked it. They said they had been on The Price is Right and won the showcase (well, not both of them) and they also won a carousel horse (there were other things, but I forgot what the were.) I was pretty excited because I always loved that show. But, who the hell needs a carousel horse??
A full one-third of all contestants.I have sympathy for most of them… though anyone who gets called down as part of the initial four and doesn’t get on stage by the end maybe deserves it.
This is true if you only get a couple of chances and some douche goes 1 dollar over your bid both times it’s worse than if you get to bid last at least once
Her bid was too o-HI-o……ohio…ohio…ohio…ohio….
thank god someone thought to write an article on this to sell ad space off the backs of someones pain. It really offers a nice counterpoint to all the sanctimonious articles appearing on this site encouraging decency but seldom offering a path to profit.
this makes my big peepee into the MASSIVE PEEPEE
Ice cream as a consolation prize? Carey must have lost a LOT of Showcase Showdowns.
Drew’s looking pretty trim, crazy old beard notwithstanding.
He’s wearing black!
He looks fine?
What a fucking weird comment.
Mimi, is that you?
What about hoedowns?!
Drew beard is bold. Not sure ever seen before on a game show host. It does remind me of something —
It’s really too bad they retired the old ‘you lost’ horn music:
Best sound effect ever
I didn’t know they retired it. My daughter loves the horn, we were using it playing chutes and ladders and candyland.
I watched this yesterday (daily TPIR viewer via DVR) and the worst part is the “$23000″ was deliberate but the “$294″ part of her bid was obviously just a totally random number. If she’d have said “$267″ or something else just a little less, she would have won both showcases.I don’t feel too bad for her. This was a really really bad miss, but she won a car and another prize earlier. She didn’t go home empty handed.
Seeing that beard I guess I DO have a shot at a Hollywood career.
Time to learn some acting. actING! ACTing!
Be ready for a few instances of “Sir, this is an Arby’s.”
You have to earn the beard.
Carey had an entire successful career BEFORE TPIR. He gets to have whatever beard he wants now.
Earn it?? I’ve had at least 3 decades of continuous beardedness. I’d say HE has to earn it. Frickin poser.
An entire successful career where he basically kept the haircut and glasses from his time in the Marines. He’s more than earned a little scruffiness.
aCtiNg!
Good career choice! Don’t hesitate to look for roles at your local thee-ate-er!
When did Drew Carey turn into Earnest Hemingway?
Star for old literary reference instead of some TikTokker that I don’t know.
Hey now, he doesn’t even own a shotgun!
I heard that being that is important to him.
When did Letterman start hosting the Price is Right?
What a worthwhile article! I’m glad I stopped to watch that!
Wait…that’s what Drew looks like these days?
YOOOOO WHAT THE FUUUUUUU HAPPENED TO DREW ??
This is a perfect depiction of the schism in generational wealth. That senior citizen just snatched that shit right away from her fine young ass
Drew Carey looks like the homeless version of David Letterman with that beard. Of course, David Letterman also looks like the homeless version of David Letterman with his beard.
This is io9 why?
This is AVClub, but it could be worse, this could be an Arby’s, sir.
Yeah, that’s how the show works. Is this seriously meant to be in any way interesting?!
That’s painful to watch. And Drew’s gotta shave off that castaway beard.
Some dudes can rock a beard. Drew is not one of those dudes….
That caused me physical pain. And I like how Carey kinda tries to console her and then just realizes there’s nothing he can really say haha.
Sorry, I don’t see it.
She’s looking amazed when he says “200, 90″ and then when he says “1″ she disappears behind the desk in… exhaustion? Which if she had won with that would have been a reasonable response too. And then she’s smiling for the rest, so… yeah she missed out but “heart rips in half” is not even close.
I’m not sure if the clip is online but my favorite ever “heart getting ripped apart on a game show moment” was on Deal Or No Deal where a very loud and screechy blonde was playing for a 2 million dollar briefcase. Her equally loud and screechy friends ended up convincing her to sell her case for something like 30 thousand, and then in the end it was revealed she had the 2 million in her case all along. Howie tried to end the show on a happy and upbeat note, but man, the look she had on her face could have cut through glass.
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