‘The Price Is Right’: Bobby Bones’ Sidekick Dan ‘Lunchbox’ Chappell Talks Outfit Choice, Jumping On Audience Members & More

If you think you saw a familiar face on The Price Is Right this week, you probably did. Dan “Lunchbox” Chappell, who runs The Bobby Bones Show with Bones, appeared as a contestant on March 31.

Chappell, from Nashville, Tennessee, was the first person to be called down on the episode. He ran down the aisle in a tuxedo, jumping on top of audience members, high-fiving some, and hugging others. He admitted that he “couldn’t hear his name being called,” but once Chappell saw his name on the queue cards, he freaked out.

The radio personality then made it to the contestant’s row and won a winery trip to Carter Estate Winery and Resort. Chappell got to come to the stage to play One Wrong Price.

“I came by myself because this is the dream! Do you believe in miracles?” he said to host Drew Carey.

When Carey asked if he was Bones’ sidekick, Chappell admitted, “Yeah. I’ve been to jail for the show.” The host put his hand against the wall and cracked up while announcer George Gray sarcastically said, “I am shocked.”

Chappell went to jail in 2014 after he was dared by his cohosts to go into a convenience store with a ski mask on and walk around the store while talking to his radio audience. The clerk thought he was going to be robbed and tripped the silent alarm. He was charged with making a terroristic threat.

All the game show contestant had to do was figure out which of the three prices listed next to the prizes was wrong, and then he would win all three of them.

The first item was three pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes, priced at $3,040. Then, a Center multi-gym apparatus, along with a three-month digital membership, priced at $4,128. The third item was a desktop computer and a webcam, priced at $2,349.

“Drew, I wish I worked out more, but I’m about to start working out more when I win this,” he said. Lunchbox chose number two, the workout machine, as the wrong price.

It was actually $1,399, so he won the prizes. Lunchbox went to hug models Alexis Gaube and James O’Halloran. He kissed the shoes, pretended to work out on the machine, and then typed on the computer. He said he is going to give the shoes to his wife, but if she doesn’t want them, he might just display them, along with his name tag on a shelf to show off what he won.

Chappell then advanced to the Showcase Showdown. Lunchbox did not think he was going to win as he had spun a 30 and his opponent spun 80. But, by some miracle, the wheel landed on the edge of 60, giving him 90, so he advanced to the Showcase.

At the Showcase, both he and his opponents bid $32,000. Chappell bid on a five-night trip to New Orleans, a trip to Thailand, and a trip to Greece. He wound up losing the Showcase since he was $1,000 over, even though his opponent was $9,000 away from the actual price.

Chappell talked to TV Insider about why he chose to wear a tuxedo, how hard it was to keep a secret from everyone, if he was told to jump on audience members, and more.

TVI: Were you a fan of The Price Is Right initially? What drew you to audition for the show?

Lunchbox: I have been a fan since I was a little kid. I remember 10 am, it was coming on, and I was watching it, and just all the games and Plinko, and the mountain man, hole in one or two. I remember it all. I been a fan for my whole life, and I’ve always dreamed of doing it, and I just never thought it was possible. Then finally, I said, “You know what? I’m going to book a flight, and I’m going to go, I’m going to try it. What’s the worst that’s going to happen?” I’m going to go, I’m going to sit in the audience, and that’s amazing. So, I did it. I just booked it, and I went by myself.

Did you have to take off work?

Yes, I took three days off from work, but they were nice enough to say, “Hey, you’re going to chase your dream. Go ahead.” I appreciated that. Bobby was very nice, and he checked in with me when I was out there. I told him things were going terribly.

So, he knew you were going to be on the show?

He had no idea. I lied to everybody in my life — everybody at work, my family. I was like, “Man, I just never got called down. Maybe I was too much. Maybe I was over the top. Maybe I was bugging people.” I told them that I went for three days. I even told them that I showed up for the Valentine’s Day episode, and I didn’t have a couple, so they kicked me out.

How hard was it to keep how you did a secret from everybody?

It was very hard because we are on the radio show. We talk about everything, and we talked about it for days and days and days afterwards, and randomly, the six months since it happened, people would call in and be like, “Oh my gosh. Remember that time you went to The Price Is Right, and you didn’t get on, you loser?” And I’m like, “Oh yeah.” I had to act defeated and just depressed. And like, “Yes, I’m such a loser.” But at least I got to be in the audience. And so it was so hard because, maybe I’m a good liar. I don’t know. I guess I am.

I know every game is different, and you don’t know what game you are going to play, but did you have a strategy going in?

No, I had no strategy, because, like you said, you don’t know what game you’re going to get. So when I got Two right, One wrong, I was like, “Oh no, I don’t know anything about Jimmy Choo shoes. I have no idea. I know they’re expensive, but I don’t know anything about them.” By looking at me, you can tell I don’t work out. I don’t know anything about that, and a desktop computer, I didn’t know people still bought desktop computers. I thought it was all laptops. So I was really up the creek without a paddle. I was like, “Oh my gosh, what am I going to do?” I just thought, “You know what? Growing up, my favorite number, my jersey number playing soccer, was two. So I’m going with number two,” and that’s how I picked it.

Why did you wear a tuxedo on the show?

We discussed that before going out, and I said, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to come up with a custom shirt. I got to come up with something that will just stick out.” I think it was Bobby, I got to give him credit, he was like, “Dude, everybody does a custom shirt. What you’ve never seen is someone in a tuxedo.” And I was like, “Okay, I’m sold. It’s great.” I love it. I’m gonna look because it looks good. It catches everybody’s eye. And so I was like, “I’ll get a tuxedo. I’ll do it. I don’t care. Whatever is gonna make them look at me for one second longer than the person next to me, and think, ah, we need a tuxedo on TV.” It was just a genius move, I think.

I’m sure it’s a long day. You had to sit six plus hours in a tux?

So, my taping was supposed to be like the 1:30 window, and I wanted to be there by 10:30 because I was stressed out. I was like, “I’ve got to get there early in line because I need them to see me.” But then the tuxedo place didn’t open until 10, and so I had to go to the mall and pick it up in Los Angeles, and I put it on and the lady’s like, “Oh, how does it fit?” I sai d it fit great. She’s like, “All right, just go ahead and take it off.” I was like, “No, no, I’m wearing this thing out of here.” And she was like, “What do you mean? You’re wearing it out here?” I said, “I’m going to The Price Is Right, and I’m wearing this tuxedo.” I walked outside of that mall, and I called an Uber, and the lady picked me up. She goes, “Well, you’re awfully dressed up for a Wednesday.” And I was like, “I’m going to The Price Is Right. She goes “In a tuxedo?” And I was like, “Yes.” She goes, “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”

When George Gray called your name for the contestant’s row, you jumped on people in the crowd and hugged them. Was that planned or a spur-of-the-moment thing?

It was spur-of-the-moment. I didn’t know these people. I met them in line. They sat around me in line, and the one guy and his wife were from Ohio. I believe they were on a trip to Vegas, and they decided to drive from Vegas to LA to do The Price Is Right, and they were driving back right after that taping. But I just met them in line, so I literally had nobody with me. Usually you have people to celebrate with, and honestly, it’s so loud in there, I didn’t hear my name being called. They have cue cards, and after a second, they flipped the cue card down, and I looked at the cue card, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, that’s me.” It was an out-of-body experience. You just start freaking out. And I just started running in every direction, and I just saw that dude, and I was like, “You know what, I’m jumping in a lap.”

Were you surprised that Drew Carey didn’t know who you were?

I mean, here’s the thing, they meet so many people they can’t possibly think, “Oh, this guy’s showing up today.” So I wasn’t surprised, because we’re not on in Los Angeles. We’re not there. They’re working. They probably don’t listen to the show, so I doubt they knew who I was. But I mean, it was great. I didn’t expect Drew Carey to know who I was, or George. I didn’t expect them to know who I was, because I wasn’t going in there with “Lunchbox” written on my name tag, they’d have been like, “What does that mean?” They would have maybe started asking questions. I was going as Daniel, and it was just was pandemonium. I’m just gonna tell you, it was great, and no, so I didn’t expect to know who I was, but I sure as heck knew who they were.

What was your reaction to Drew and George’s reaction to you going to jail?

I did not know Drew Carey was going to keel over laughing. I had no idea. I was just rambling and just in the moment. When he said, “What do you do for a living?” I just started talking, and I don’t know why, of all the things I’ve done on the radio show, I don’t know why I threw that in or what. Because that was 14 or 15, years ago, but I don’t know why, but I just said it because I was just so excited, and I was just having diarrhea of the mouth. “Hey, Drew. Here’s everything about me.”

Did you realize you and your opponent bid the same amount in the Showcase?

I bid first, and I’m going to be honest with you, when she bid $32,000, because I thought I had the better showcase, I thought the T-shirts and the arcade game. I thought they were not that exciting. Now, when they did the brand new car, it was the Ford Bronco. I was like, “That’s pretty nice. But I don’t know how much a Ford Bronco is.” So when she bid $32,000 in my gut, I was like, “I just won the showcase. I just won the showcase because she went over,” in my gut. During the commercial, when they cut, she was like, “Did you bid $32,000 too?” and I was like, “Yeah.” She goes, “Oh, I lost. I lost. I’m totally wrong.” So I think she thought she lost, too.

When you lost the Showcase, you fell to the floor. When you made it to the Showcase, you kissed the ground. The Reddit community said how energetic and extroverted you were. Was that an act or really you?

That’s 100% me. I’ve been that way since I was a kid. I was always in the center of attention. My junior year of high school, Mrs. Whiteside was my English teacher, and she called my mom, and she was like, “Listen, your son thinks he is running for political office in my classroom. He will not sit down. He walks around the room during the entire class, talking to everybody.” That is just who I am. I was a prom king. I’m a social butterfly. I love to talk, I love to entertain. I love to tell stories. I love it all. That’s just how I am.

I’m very energetic, fun, and outgoing, and I didn’t realize how crazy I was going to be, but I could not calm down. I’m on Contestants Row, and every time I’m bidding, I was jumping up and down, and I didn’t even realize it until about 20 minutes in, I’m dripping. I was sweating. I was like, “What?” And they had no water. You don’t have water there. So I’m getting thirsty, but there was no plan.

When I hit that wheel, because I had 30 cents, and the two ladies had 80 cents, I was like, “Oh my gosh. This is going to take a miracle.” This is good. I got the 60 cents started coming and coming and coming. And then it got there, and it went up. It went all the way as far as it could without it clicking over. And when it hit, I was basically kissing the ground of The Price Is Right floor. Luck was on my side at that moment, and I was just like, “This is the craziest thing ever.” I never in a million years imagined that I was going to be able to stand under the lit-up number when you spin that wheel. That is so crazy. I’ve watched for years.

So no, I didn’t plan that. It’s just who I am. As you can see, I’m still just rambling on and on and on.

What do you think your family, friends, and coworkers are going to say about your appearance?

My phone is already blowing up. They’re going to be shocked and excited. Some people will be like, “You little rat. You lied to us. You said you didn’t make it to contestant’s row.” They may make fun of me for overbidding, because I’ve watched it since I was a kid, and I’m like, “How do these people overbid? Oh my gosh. How do they overbid?” Well, that’s how you overbid.

You shouted out basically everyone while spinning the wheel, but you forgot to shout out Bobby and your coworkers. Do you think they will say something about that?

Okay, they might get a little upset about that. But I did say when Drew asked me what I did for a liviing, I did say I worked at the Bobby Bones Show, so I felt like that was my shout out to them.

Do you have anything else to say about your time on The Price Is Right?

It was so fun. I thought, if I didn’t get on, it’s going to be miserable. But just the experience of waiting in line and walking onto the lot and then walking into the set. You walk up to someone, and they tell you where to go, sit down, and you’re just like, “Holy, this is The Price Is Right. This is crazy.” You sit down, and all the bright lights. It was phenomenal. Everybody at The Price Is Right was so nice. Everybody was so friendly and just so welcoming. Everybody was in a good mood. It was just so amazing. It was so fun to walk up and see the girl write your name on the name tag. The penmanship they had was amazing. And you’re just like, “This is how it works.” Everything was just amazing.

Would you want to do another game show?

Sign me up. I’d love to do another game show. I’d love to do Survivor. I’d do that show in a heartbeat.

The Price Is Right, weekdays, 11a/10c, CBS, stream next day on Paramount+