I Just Learned How 'The Price Is Right' Has Video Review, And I'm Not Sure How To Feel About It
Has video review now gone too far?
I don't watch The Price is Right much these days, but I used to watch it a lot.
I'd drink it in every time I stayed home from school or got my haircut at this one barber shop that may have had its TV stuck on CBS.
Seriously. Every time I was there, I got a front row seat to some Plinko.
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And while I liked it when people won, I liked it when people had their hearts ripped out of their chest even more because of the way you lose.
An accountant from Yakima losing out on a Camry because a cardboard cut-out of a cartoon mountaineer falls off the end of its track because he didn't know how much a can of refried beans costs.
That's hilarious.
Then you get the loser sound to tie it all together: Bah-bah-bah-baaaaahhh. BRRRRRrrrrrrrr.
But I just learned that the show now has protocol in place to make sure a contestant doesn't get hosed. Something I always thought was part of the game.
Recently, an episode aired in which a woman played a game called "Rat Race."
Don't think too hard, wondering how this game is played, because it's exactly what it sounds like. A bunch of fake rats race on a slot car track, and if the ones you pick finish in the top three, you win prizes.
According to CBS News, contestant Leslie Harris was able to pick one rat, and she picked the green one because that's the color nail polish she happened to have on (that is peak Price is Right strategy).
The rat appeared to finish outside the top three, meaning Harris' hopes of a turntable and set of vinyl records had been shattered in an instant.
However, after a commercial break, Drew Carey confirmed that the footage had been sent upstairs (or downstairs or to a trailer behind the sound stage; I don't know) for a second look, and it turned out Harris' green rat had taken third by a nose.
Hello, vinyl set and turntable!
Good for Harris, but it got me wondering if video review has gone too far.
I mean, for judging if a player is offside, got a toe in bounds, or went yard; sure.
But Price is Right? I'm not sure how long they've been doing this, but it was news to me. I thought having a bounce not going your way is part of the game.
I'm all about fairness and making the right call… but like I said, the Price is Right losses are why we watch.
No one wants to see someone win a dinette set.
But lose a dinette set because they whiffed on the price of a tube of toothpaste?
Pump that straight into my veins.