Buzz
Have you ever watched The Price is Right? I often catch it at the gym during the day since the visuals alone make it easy to follow. Contestants estimate the prices of various items, participate in mini-games, and either win or lose the prizes. However, Terry Kneiss took his fandom to another level. After watching countless episodes, he noticed recurring products and, with his wife's help, memorized their prices. When he appeared on the show, he used hand signals to confirm his calculations with his wife in the audience. His precision paid off during the Showcase, where his bid was exact to the dollar—a first in the show's 38-year history. A recent Esquire profile delves into this fascinating story; here's a glimpse:
The Price Is Right culminates in the Showcase, where the two final contestants, having advanced from the audience to Contestant's Row and through various games, face off. They bid on two prize packages, and the closest bid without exceeding the actual value wins. If a bid is within $250, the contestant wins both showcases. Terry found himself competing against an enthusiastic contestant named Sharon. The first Showcase featured a karaoke machine, a pool table, and a seventeen-foot camper. Sharon passed, leaving Terry to make his move. After a brief glance at the audience, he confidently bid $23,743. "Wow," Drew Carey remarked. "That's a very precise bid." Sharon's Showcase included trips to Chicago, Banff, Alberta, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Cape Town, South Africa. She bid $30,525. "We'll be right back, folks," Carey said. "Don't go away." Then, the show abruptly halted. Even before the Showcase, some staff members sensed something unusual. ... ... Carey recalled the chaos: "Everyone assumed cheating was involved. We'd just let go of Roger Dobkowitz, and fans were already upset. I thought, 'This is it. Someone sabotaged us.' I wondered if the episode would ever air. It felt like the show might be canceled, and I'd lose my job."
Read the full story for an incredible account of how one man (and his wife) outsmarted the iconic game show.
Below is a video clip of the dramatic showdown. The Esquire article (and the excerpt above) explains Drew Carey's lack of enthusiasm—he believed the episode would never see the light of day.
(Source: Kottke.org.)
