The Price Is Perfect

July 14, 2010

Terry Kniess did whaat no one else has done, in the thirty-eight years that the Price is Right gameshow has been on television: he came up with the perfect number.

In the final event on the show (the Showcase Showdown), two contestants are shown different sets of items. They sometimes include vacation packages, cars, a mixture of items. Each contestant bids on what they think their particular set is worth… and the person who comes closest (without going over) wins their showcase.

Here’s a little known rule though: if a contestant gets within $250 of the actual price, that person wins both showcases.

[Kniess] turns over the back of the giant white cue card to show the meticulous notes he jotted down after the show, including his final take – actual retail price, $56,437.41 – after he won both Showcases, the game’s ultimate prize, with yet another perfect bid, the first in the show’s thirty-eight-year-long daytime history: $23,743.

Why, you might ask, is Drew Carey so nonplussed? Well, there were rumblings that things were amiss with the show from the start. An unusually high number of people happened to be winning on this particular show.

Terry Kniess’ secret is that he and his wife taped numerous episodes of the show, and noticed patterns. Items would re-appear, show after show, and it was a matter of recording the prices down and memorizing them. But Kniess wasn’t the only person to come up with this strategy. Another audience member, Ted Slauson, had the same approach. And not only was Slauson in the audience when Kniess made his perfect bid… but Slauson had been sitting right next to Kniess.

This was a fascinating article about arguably one of the most American of game shows. Definitely give it a read.