Getting to compete on the "The Price Is Right" is the stuff of pop culture fantasy. Who didn't want to spin the wheel and dream of Bob Barker asking them to "come on down"?
One Reddit user named Rocky_Whore got to do just that and shared his experience on the site. Read on for the highlights from his "Ask Me Anything" thread to learn what it's like to spin the wheel, how to tune out the audience, and whether contestants are really picked at random.
On whether he listened to the audience:
"I pulled my wife's voice out and she helped me decide things. Other than her and my kids, I tried to tune everyone else out."
What it's like to spin that wheel:
"Exactly what you would think," says Rocky_Whore. "Heavy and slow."
Who gets chosen to "come on down":
"It's not random. They interview each person before the show to see who would fit best on TV ... Everyone is just in a big line and they go down asking questions."
The taxes he paid on those prizes:
"I won $57,069 worth of items. I had to pay around $17,000 or $20,000 in taxes, but I'm not 100% on that. I tried not to pay attention ... I'm more shocked Olympians have to pay taxes on their medals."
If he would have won more if Bob Barker was hosting:
"No, Drew Carey was awesome."
If there's an option to take a cash amount of equal or lesser value of the prizes:
"Not really, but we won an Apple computer and Apple doesn't ship their items so we got the money for it (we used that for taxes, though). We also had the option to take money for the poker table because it was going to take a long time to ship."
The surprising thing he learned behind the scenes:
"The paper work took maybe two hours to fill out because I won the showcase and they made me stay last. During that two hours I was talking to a guy that worked there. The guy was saying how quite a few people give up their prize because of the crazy taxes. One guy won a $10,000 cash prize and didn't take it because he didn't want to pay half to his ex-wife."
How practical the prizes are:
"The washer and dryer were perfect. We got them the day after we moved into our new house. The car was perfect because I was looking for a new car for my wife anyways. I gave my son the 2 mountain bikes to keep or sell (he is a professional cyclist, so he likes his bikes) the diner table and poker table don't get used too much, but they are nice to have when we have a party or something. The trip to washington [sic] was great too, we have always wanted to go there.
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