‘The Price Is Right’: Mom & Daughter Share Amazing Story of Being on Show 40 Years Apart

Not many people can say they were on a game show twice, but Emily Moffat can. She appeared on The Price Is Right in 2022, but was first on the show 40 years earlier when her mom, Lana Dalton, was pregnant with her.

Emily’s husband, Jacob, shared a video about the two women earlier this month, and it went viral. Lana did not win, but Emily did, and oddly enough, they were both playing for the same prize — a Volkswagen.

The mother/daughter duo talked to TV Insider about their time on the game show, the crazy coincidences, and if they would ever compete on one together. Plus, see a video of Moffat and her family watching her episode together.

Lana, can you talk about your experience on The Price Is Right?

Lana Dalton: I was living outside of Boston, Massachusetts. At the time, I had a two-year-old, and I was expecting Emily, when I wrote for tickets and got them, and then I was going to visit my twin sister in California, and we were going to go to The Price Is Right together. We didn’t make it into the morning taping, so we just stayed, and somebody gave us their tickets from the morning show for the afternoon show. So, we moved up in line, and then for the afternoon taping, I was the last eligible contestant, and my sister was not eligible.

We sat in folding chairs at the end of the audience, and then I was called down. I had watched that show for three months prior to going on, so  I felt kind of sure that I would do well if I was called down, and sure enough, I got called down, and I went right up and played Hole-in-One. Of all the games, I did not want that one, but it was for a car, so I was pretty good at guessing most of the items I got within one. I was the second line back. And, of course, I didn’t make it so, but I really had a lot of fun getting called down and getting up on stage. I mean, that was the highlight.

 

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Emily, did you audition because of your mom, or how did that come about?

Emily Moffat: Well, in this particular case, I was really lucky to be invited by a friend who had gone through the audition process, and they said, ‘You can bring up to six friends.’ And she invited a number of us. We know each other from school, our children go to school together, and I was the only one who was available. But I was really excited to go because since it’s since I was a kid, I wanted to go on The Price Is Right, and say I was on this show when my mom was pregnant with me. And in fact, 20 years ago, my husband and I tried to get in on our honeymoon. It was the last day of our honeymoon, and we got there too late, so we were at the very, very back of the line, and they didn’t have space for us. Since that time, I’ve always wanted to go back and tell that story, but it was the invitation from a friend who had already jumped through those hoops. And I was lucky enough to go with her and then got on the show.

Wow. Talk about fate. 

Moffat: I know my mom worked hard. She wrote away for tickets, she studied up, she did everything. I got on that show by the grace of my sweet friend Sarah Chong, who invited me. I think, because of my mom’s story and some blessings from heaven, that was, it was not on my own merit that anything. I was lucky.

How does it feel to be a select group of people who were on the game show twice, since you were in your mom’s stomch the first time?

Moffat: It’s the most bizarre story. It was interesting because there was someone who had commented and said, ‘You can’t be on the game show twice, like that’s against the rules.’ But they’re actually pretty generous, and I think it’s a statute of limitations of maybe 10 years. So I mean, my mom and I could potentially go back again, even, I mean, not to be greedy or anything, but it’s just a good time.

You just have fun. My husband and I were just talking upstairs. It does feel a bit miraculous. There were so many coincidences after coincidences that we’re still learning about. When my husband shared this story, The Price Is Right commented back, and they said, ‘Wow, they’re even at the same place on the podium,’ which we didn’t even think about. There are sometimes special moments in life that just feel a little orchestrated. And that’s what this was, for sure. And it felt special to be inside a moment like that for sure.

When you found out you were playing for a Volkswagen, like your mom, did you think it was divine intervention? Did it pop up in your head that you were playing for the same prize?

Moffat: I felt like it was divine intervention the whole day, I really did. I remember my mom talking about this too, how she just kind of had a feeling. She went with her twin sister. She was the last eligible contestant. Her twin sister was not eligible, so she just had this feeling. And it’s so interesting because I felt the same thing the day that I went there, and I was telling my mom there were other people that were there in the audience that said, ‘I just have a good feeling about you.’ I was telling my mom that I was seeing hummingbirds, which are a special symbol to us since my husband’s father passed away. I mean, just little things like that that were just one after another, it just felt like a special day. I think in my wildest dreams, I did not think I was going home with a car, but by the time it happened, it felt like that was miraculous. It did. It just absolutely did feel like divine intervention.

Lana, what was your reaction when you found out Emily was on the show and won the same prize you almost did?

Dalton: I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ And then her husband pointed out that I almost won a Volkswagen Rabbit, and she won a Volkswagen SUV. I go, ‘I think God is being very funny.’

Moffat: It’s interesting, too, because in this particular game show, and at this particular time, you either took the prize or you forfeited the prize. So I was bidding. I was the very first person, the very first name called of the whole game show, and I was the very last person to get up, which just tells you what a terrible job I was doing. My mom was an ace. I was terrible. I was getting all over the place. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. I found out the week before that, I was going to be on the show and then it was COVID, so it was really hard to know what anything was priced.

I remember there were arcade games that I way underbid. No idea what arcade games cost. But we wouldn’t have had a place to put those arcade games if I had won them, but we were in a situation during COVID. We had a car that was an old electric car, and the range was so low that we couldn’t get to work and back on it. So we sold it, and then all of the used car prices went crazy. So we were down a car. And we’re a family of six, so it was a little tricky. So, for us to win the very thing our family needed was also such a gift.

Lana, you won a trash compactor. Do you still have it?

Dalton: No. We were living in an apartment at the time, so we couldn’t use it. But we did sell it to someone who had a house that wanted it.

Emily, do you think your kids will try out for the show when they are old enough?

Oh my gosh. What’s funny is I tell my friends if they need something, they could try a game show. You never know what you’ll come back with. What’s cool is, they’re very generous on the show in terms of they want people to win. They want people to be successful. And so they’ll give tips and pointers after the game is played.

So, if you come back, like my mom said, they didn’t make the morning taping; they made the afternoon. Well, there were people that were in the morning taping, and they were like, ‘You can come back this afternoon and try again.’ And they’d give these little pointers throughout the show. And so, I tell people, ‘You just never know.’ You might, you might actually come away with something really meaningful. It’s a good time, in any case, because if it’s not you, you get to see someone else go up there and win, and that feels great.

You were on the show 40 years apart. Did you talk about the differences? Did you compare your experiences?

Dalton: I don’t think we did. But, I think the experiences were very similar because the crowd is for you. Everybody is screaming to help you out. And it’s a lot of fun for everybody.

Moffat: It’s interesting. Because what I think my mom did, I know she didn’t come away with the car, but what my mom did was much harder, in my opinion, in every category, because there were hundreds of people in the audience when my mom did it, and there were only about 40 people in the audience when I did it, because of COVID and social distancing and things like that. So I had statistically a greater chance of being chosen to go up there.

Then, my mom, whom I was chosen from the very beginning, I was given the biggest advantage in terms of trying to get up there, my mom was called in the middle of the game, so she had fewer chances to get up. And then she got up the very first try. She was only $30 off the price of the price of the trash compactor. And then she gets up there and proceeds to have to price-guess all of these other items in order to get as close as she can to the putt, and again, she only missed two. There were only two that she switched. So, she jumped a lot more hurdles than I did and I was on the game show. I’m 100% sure I was called up because of the story of my mom. So there were a lot of other people responsible for my success that day.

Now that you two are The Price is Right legacies, would you compete on another game show together? And if so, which one(s)?

Moffat: Oh, 100 percent.

Daltom: Absolutely. That’d be a great time.

Moffat: Maybe Family Feud or Wheel of Fortune. Sometimes, they have duos. My mom’s a good player.

Emily, why did your husband think now was a good time to share your story despite being on The Price Is Right three years ago?

Honestly, I think part of it, we will always hold a very special place in our hearts for that little blue miracle. It’s funny, I get a little teary thinking about it right now, but we actually had to sell the car, had to trade it in just about like two weeks ago. And so I think it felt like the time to kind of kind of honor that miracle and immortalize it, since we weren’t able to keep the car, to be able to say, ‘We want to tell this story and share it,’ and kind of really share what a miracle it was three years ago and full circle.

What a miracle that story was, and Jacob brought a lot of similarities between my game and her game that I had no idea —  facial expressions
were wild watching, I mean watching the similarities between those things. I mean two generations faced with the exact same thing, responding exact same way. That was wild.

What were your experiences like with the hosts and crew? 

Dalton: I knew that Bob Barker was going to hand me the microphone because I’d watched for three months before that. I took the microphone too soon. You probably see that on the show. Then afterwards, once the camera went off of me, I gave him a kiss on the cheek. Every woman kisses Bob Barker on the cheek, so I got to do that.

Moffat: For me, I will say it’s interesting, because I got a lot of time up there in the front, because I was the very last person standing from the first round. They call the first four down at the beginning. I was the last person standing. I was just trying to get up there to save face at the end, literally. Lord, can I just go up on this last game please? But I’ll tell you, the announcer was so kind. I think he was talking to me and telling me, ‘Oh, my mom’s name is Emily, and she’s nice, just like you.’ They were so kind. I think there might have been a real tender-hearted part of them that was trying to make me feel better about how long I’d been up there, because I just guessed wrong, left and right, but they were genuinely so kind, and Drew Carey, too.

You can hear him comment. He said something when I got up there, when I shared that, my mom was on the show, when she was pregnant with me. And he said, ‘Oh, I bet she’s wonderful, just like you’. He paid me a compliment. He was just very genuine and kind, and it was really fun to see like especially the announcer. I just came home and I told Jacob, ‘Man, you can tell they really love their job.’ And it’s nice to be in that orbit for a while. They are genuinely in the business of wanting to see people succeed there, and it’s fun. I know it’s for television, but there was a lot of joy there. And it was, it was lovely to be in that.

One last question for you, Lana. How far along were you, and do you think being pregnant made it more difficult?

Dalton: Well, I think it was January of 83 and Emily was born the April 4, 83, so I was about six months or seven months along. It wasn’t difficult at all. We stood in line. It was no trouble at all. When they auditioned every member, you ran down to the judges. When I was called down, ‘Lana Dalton, come on down.’ I ran down. I was fine. I was just fine. I was thrilled.

Moffat: Mom, you’re a champ.  I was backwards. I remember when I finally won the prize, which was the flat screen TV, to come up to play for the next game. I went up the wrong stairs. I was like ‘What I was doing?’ My mom’s like pregnant, like ‘It’s no problem. I got this.’