‘The Price Is Right’ Contestant Loses $10,000 Despite Playing Perfect Game
How does someone play a perfect game and walk away with nothing? The Price Is Right contestant Matthew Casey did just that.
Casey, a hospitality worker, won the fourth item up for bid on March 10. The prize was an archery set with a bow, arrows, an inflatable bullseye target, and accessories, worth $973. He had the highest bid of $550, meaning he won.
He then came to the stage to play Half-Off for a chance to win $10,000. The way the game works is that The Price Is Right contestant has to decide which of the items is showing the half-off price. If they get it right, half of the boxes on stage get eliminated. This goes on for three tries until there should only be two boxes left. The contestant then chooses one box, and if the money is inside, they win.
The first items were an air fryer priced at $90 and a meat tenderizer priced at $30. He chose the air fryer and was right since it was $180. Half of the boxes dropped, leaving eight.
The next two items were a lantern priced at $88 and an electric shaver priced at $20. He chose the electric shaver and was right again. This left four boxes.
Host Drew Carey told him that if he gets the third item right, the game show will give Casey $1,000 even before the boxes are revealed. So, if he picked the right box, the contestant could walk away with $11,000.
The last set of items: a $35 pool thermometer and a $84 cooking torch. After taking advice from the audience, Casey chose the pool thermometer. He was right, as it was $70. This left him with only two boxes.
Casey threw his first in the air. Only box three and 10 were left. He picked number 10 and lifted up the lid. The box was empty, meaning the money was in number three.
“Darn it. You did everything right,” Drew Carey said.
Casey only spun a .50 on the Showcase Showdown wheel, so he did not advance to the Showcase.
“I thought it was 10 too. But at least Matthew got $1,000 for the heck of it,” a YouTube user said.
“One of the most heartbreaking losses in modern Price is Right history. The look from Rachel [Reynolds] after opening the correct box got me. It’s as if she looked disappointed by this painful loss. Ouch!” another wrote.
“Everyone plays this game perfectly just to lose a 50/50 chance at the end, it seems,” a third added.
The Price Is Right, weekdays, 11a/10c, CBS, stream next day on Paramount+
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