Singletake: Free stuff

LES SILLARS: From WORLD Radio, this is Doubletake. I’m Les Sillars. Today we have a kind of a Christmas Singletake. A shorter story told, in this case, by just two people. Two people who head out to California to have some fun. There they realize, in a most unlikely place, that everything they have is a gift.

STEGALL: Well, we were wearing outfits we found on Amazon. I was wearing a sparkly red top. …

Kim Stegall writes for World Teen magazine and lives in South Carolina.

STEGALL: … Juliana was wearing a sparkly green top.

Juliana Chan Erickson is a World contributor. She lives in Washington, DC. They also had elf hats, bent rakishly to the side and sporting gold dollar signs.

CHAN ERICKSON: I think yours, Kim, was facing right, and mine was facing left so when we stood for a photo, they looked like they were mirror images of each other.

STEGALL: And so I had the red top and had a green headband with red ribbon. And you had the opposite. So we were very opposite, but coordinating.

Why, you might ask, were Kim and Juliana dressed up like that on a warm day in October?

PRICE IS RIGHT | ANNNOUNCER: Here it comes! From Hollywood! It’s "The Price is Right at Night!"

Yep. They were auditioning for America’s longest-running game show. Started in 1956. Five million viewers a night. Hosted since 2007 by Drew Carey.

PRICE IS RIGHT : [cheering]

Juliana’s kids started watching the show last summer. She just decided one day to get tickets. Kim hadn’t seen the show in years, but she came along for fun.

They flew to Los Angeles a few days before their episode was taped on October 30, 2023. The theme was “holiday office party.” But they couldn’t talk about it, even with their closest friends, until after the show aired last December 4. I sat down with Kim and Juliana the day after.

On the morning of the show …

CHAN ERICKSON: I told Kim, hey, if we're gonna get on the show, we have to make up a song, some sort of gimmick, even if it's terrible, even if it's pitiful. We got to sing it and own it and rock our elf hats in front of these people.

SILLARS: Can you sing the song for me now?

STEGALL: This is the time bom bom. This is the day bom bom. And that's where I kind of fizzle out.

CHAN ERICKSON: I know it goes something like, This is the show. This is the day. This is The "Price is Right. Come on down and play play play. Yeah, something like that. I'm terrible. I can't sing

They took an Uber to the studio. It was under construction. But the production company had rented the church next door to the studio. That’s where they staged "The Price is Right" and "Let’s Make a Deal." Interview the contestants and get them lined up. Take away their phones and watches. About 150 contestants came that day. Juliana noticed that when you walk into the church

CHAN ERICKSON: … you have these signs that say, “Jesus Loves You.” And then you walk into the fellowship hall and all the signs say, all the chairs that you sit in, say, “Let's Make A Deal.”

They waited there for a couple of hours. Most people had some sort of holiday outfit. Lots of sequins, candy canes, and glitter. The directors also got everybody to practice cheering.

STEGALL: They say they’re not looking for actors, they’re looking for genuine excitement and they’re looking for sustained excitement. Someone who can maintain it through the lengthy taping process. There are people who are auditioning the entire time they're sitting there. The guy in front of us kept jumping up and doing cheers, starting cheers with the whole group. There's a lot of what would you say, preening going on where people are, people are trying to get noticed, very much.

At Kim and Juliana’s interview, the staffer asked for their names and hometowns. Their jobs. Someone took their picture.

STEGALL: At the very end of Juliana’s question time, I butted in and said, “And we wrote a song didn’t we?” And they said, “Well let’s hear it.” So we did it.

SILLARS: And did they seem impressed?

STEGALL: They thought it was hilarious. I don’t know if they were impressed.

After an hour they all filed over to the studio. Kim and Juliana were number 47 and 48. Three rows back, but way over to the side. They figured that meant they were out of it.

STEGALL: We're not on, because nobody's ever gonna see us. And we were okay with that.

Finally the announcer, George Gray, and Drew Carey came out.

STEGALL: And then they just kind of all of a sudden, we were cheering …

PRICE IS RIGHT: Ivan Gonzales, come on down!

STEGALL: … and there was a guy holding signs and waving his arms like wild, “Cheer, cheer, cheer, cheer.” And we were going.

CHAN ERICKSON: It’s so loud. … you literally cannot hear the announcer even though he's using a mic. You cannot hear your name being called. Yeah, so they have a big white sign with your name written in ginormous marker, black marker.

SILLARS: So you're in there, they call the first name, it's not you.

STEGALL: Nope.

SILLARS: Second name. You?

PRICE IS RIGHT: Morgan Kyle, come on down! …

STEGALL: Nooo. No, it went all the way to, there are nine contestants called down to Contestants Row. I was number eight. So when they said my name, I didn't hear it. And Juliana started pushing me and saying it's you, it’s you! They said your name. So then I stumble out into the aisle. And it just, it just takes over, the adrenaline takes over, because you're high fiving people, you're running down. And I just thought, please don't fall, please don't fall, the whole time I’m running down there and high-fiving people. Uhhh!

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Uh, next prize, please, George. Gray: Next, grab a co-worker and hit the links with these sets of golf clubs! …

STEGALL: And I had no idea. I mean, none. What to bid. So I turn around to the audience. It is mayhem in the audience. Everyone is screaming a number and I look at a row of elves in the second row. And one elf makes eye contact with me and says, “I'm a golfer. I know these are expensive clubs. Bid $6,000.”

So Kim bid.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Kimberly, you’re first. Kim: $5,500. Drew: $5,500. …

STEGALL: And Drew Carey looked at me like I had lost my mind. So the next bid comes out.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Thank you very much. Ivan? Ivan: $950.

STEGALL: I immediately feel like a complete idiot. I have way over bid, way over bid.

The other bids were also pretty low.

STEGALL: So I just was feeling sick. So Drew Carey opens the envelope and says

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Actual retail price: $9,500. Kimberly …

She won the clubs. She screamed, threw her hands in the air and ran up the stairs. She did not hug Drew Carey.

STEGALL: And he looks completely stunned by that price. In fact, when I get up there, he said to me

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: These … big prices are blowing my mind tonight. Kim: I would never have known. Someone in the audience told me. Drew: I would never have known either. But George, she’s already ahead $9,500 worth. What else do you have for her? …

STEGALL: But then the game.

There were three prizes: a label maker, a set of battery-powered, self-heating lunch boxes,

PRICE IS RIGHT | GRAY: And finally, take the holiday party leftovers home in a new SUV! It’s the 2024 CX-5 Mazda S-Preferred!

The game is called 10 Chances. Above each prize was a group of numbers. The game was to rearrange the numbers to guess the exact price of each item. She had 10 chances in total. She got the first two items in three guesses.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Now. You’re in good shape. You have seven chances to give us the price of the SUV.

All she had to do was put five numbers in the correct order. 0, 1, 2, 3, and 9.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Use all five numbers. [buzzer] $32,109. No.

But she got a little flustered.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: $39,201.

The camera cut to Juliana screaming and waving fingers.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: [buzzer] No

Everybody was screaming at her.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: $32,091? [buzzer] No.

It was hard to think.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY:  [buzzer] No.

STEGALL: Honestly, it is so chaotic up there. …

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Alright. $29,130 [buzzer] Nope.

STEGALL: It was, it was total defense. No offense whatsoever.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: [BUZZER] No. Last chance, Kimberly … Carey: $30,912. [buzzer] No. …

Actual retail price?

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: $32,910. You got a nice golf package …

But, she wasn’t done. All six people who get onto the stage get to spin the wheel to see who gets into the Showcase Showdown. The wheel is a big deal–in more ways than one. It’s a huge, upright roulette wheel, basically. Maybe eight feet tall and heavy. You get two spins to get as close as you can to a total of one dollar without going over. Maybe you won only a toaster on contestants’ row. But one good spin and you’re back in the running for the major Showcase prizes.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Time to spin the Wheel. …

She wasn’t sure if she could pull it hard enough.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Come over here Kimberly. Good luck.

STEGALL: I'm thinking that I have a little bit of a shoulder issue.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: You want to say hi? Stegall: Mom, Jeff, Cole, and Margaret. [wheel spinning] Carey: How about a dollar?! How about a dollar on the wheel?!!

STEGALL: I got one dollar on my first spin!

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Come over here Kimberly. You spun a dollar on the wheel. That makes up for a lot. So you get a $1,000 for spinning a dollar on the wheel, congratulations, and you’re on your way to the Showcase automatically.

STEGALL: The Showcase Showdown. I'm in it.

CHAN ERICKSON: I was just beside myself. It felt like a roller coaster.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Uh, showcases are next. We’ll be right back, folks.

During the commercial, Kim and the other competitor, Austin, went to the two podiums. The producer came over.

STEGALL: He said, “Please, please, please do not over bid. We want to give a showcase away. The audience wants to see a showcase given away. If you over bid, we can't give it to you.”

Then.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: We’re back. Austin and Kimberly, welcome to the showcase round …

The first showcase included a portable dance floor, a home photo booth, some digital picture frames, and of course

PRICE IS RIGHT | GRAY: … in the trunk of your new car!

A Toyota Crown. Austin passed on the first showcase.

STEGALL: I immediately have to bid. Right then again, felt a little a little rush since I only just realized it's really me. So I have 32 910 in my head. And the first number that popped in my head was $54,000. I don't know why. … But then I kept hearing the producer saying don't over bid, don't over bid, don't over bid. So I dialed it back to …

PRICE IS RIGHT | STEGALL: $42,000. Carey: $42,000 even. Alrighty. Good luck. Austin. Here’s your showcase. Hope you like it. Take it away, George.

The second showcase included a necklace, another car, and a trip to an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. Austin was very excited about the elephants.

STEGALL: He was over the moon. … So then it was his turn to bid …

PRICE IS RIGHT | AUSTIN: I’m gonna say, 55,000. Carey: 55,000 dollars. Good luck. Good luck. Don’t go away …

Another commercial …

STEGALL: So then there's this long waiting time where Austin and I are looking awkwardly at one another. Who's gonna win? Are we both in trouble with the producers for going over? What’s gonna happen?

CHAN ERICKSON: I think you … had to go to the bathroom really badly, too right?

STEGALL: I had actually right before my name was called, I had considered leaving and going to the bathroom. But the bathrooms, because we were in construction, the only bathrooms the audience knew about were outside a row of fancy, but outside portlets. And I had thought, I'm really gonna have to do this, like, I can't sit here anymore. Then my name was called.

SILLARS: So how long was it from the time your name is called until you’re standing up at the showcase waiting to come back from commercial? About how long is that?

STEGALL: About 45 minutes.

SILLARS: And are you thinking to yourself every few minutes, “I really gotta go”?

STEGALL: Yeah, like, I can't believe this.

After the commercial …

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Welcome back everybody …

I’ll cut to the chase.

Kim’s bid was 16,000 dollars below the actual price. Austin’s bid was 6,000 dollars under his showcase’s actual price.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Austin, congratulations. Kimberly, nice meeting you. Austin cleaned up. He just won $74,775 worth of prizes …

So Austin won. But if Kim had bid 54,000 dollars, she would have been only 4,000 dollars under.

SILLARS: If you'd have gone with your first instinct, you’d have won.

STEGALL: Yes.

SILLARS: What did that feel like?

STEGALL: It felt like I really needed to go to the bathroom. [Laughter]

STEGALL: And I was happy for Austin. … He seemed over the moon. He was almost in tears over the elephants.

While Austin and his family were celebrating on stage, a producer took Kim below to sign some papers. That was a wakeup call. Kim had won about 10,000 dollars worth of stuff, plus 1,000 dollars in cash. But to collect the golf clubs, label maker, and lunch boxes she first would have to pay income and sales tax. Over 3,500 dollars.

Both Kim and her husband work from home so the lunchboxes weren’t useful. They don’t golf and she didn’t want the hassle of selling the clubs. In the end, she accepted only the 30 dollar label maker and the cash. After taxes, she made enough to cover her trip to California.

STEGALL: And I'm going to make a label for my label maker that says, “I won this on 'The Price is Right'.” If you come to my house, I might let you use it.

When Juliana first told me she and Kim went on the show, I thought, I just do not get it. "The Price is Right" looked to me like a bunch of people getting really excited about scoring free stuff on national television. The Washington Post once observed that fans of the show, quote, “relish the fantasy that knowing the price of ordinary goods can deliver wealth and untold splendor.”

But Juliana and Kim said no, it’s just a game. From what they saw, it really wasn’t about the stuff. The most thrilling thing about their experience was the camaraderie.

CHAN ERICKSON: I can't say I made best friends with anybody that was a contestant. But I feel like in that moment, we were all together. And we all were united in, not just in competition, but in rooting for one another.

We talked about this for quite a while.

STEGALL: And as I was leaving the studio everybody was high fiving me, congratulating me, patting me on the back. Good job. Great job. That was so awesome. You did so well. And I, I was thinking, “But I lost.” But I didn't lose, to them.

Watching "The Price is Right," it’s easy to fall into the fantasy of winning all that stuff. But this story reminded me that God gives us the ability to play games. And to enjoy playing them with other people. Juliana compared it to going to a football game and cheering like crazy for players you don’t know with people you don’t know.

CHAN ERICKSON: It seems like it’s part of being human, to just be united with other people, even if you don’t know them, and to be united in some sort of purpose together.

It also reminded me that sometimes we’re not as excited as we should be about getting free stuff. I mean, God gives us lots of free stuff. It’s called “grace.”

SILLARS: It is kind of interesting, though, I mean, you … start off this experience with the show by walking into a church.

STEGALL: Yes.

SILLARS: And you walk out with the recognition that, you know, as we learn in church every Sunday, we are not our own, and everything that we have is given to us.

STEGALL: And, you know, no merit of my own. I did nothing to get on that stage. Really.

CHAN ERICKSON: You sang a song.

STEGALL: I sang a song and wore a silly hat.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: Wow, what a night. Thanks for watching this show everybody. Such a blessing that we spend the hour together. Please …

I’m Les Sillars, and I wrote and produced this episode of Doubletake for WORLD Radio. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you again next time.

PRICE IS RIGHT | CAREY: … I love you. Bye.

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