OKEMOS – Vicki Pursley is grateful for her daughter-in-law because without her, she wouldn’t have experienced being on the TV show “The Price Is Right”, won a car, $1,000 and more.
Pursley, an Okemos resident, visited her son and daughter-in-law in California for Thanksgiving. While there, her daughter-in-law invited her to a taping of the show where Pursley was chosen as a contestant.
“I never knew what it felt like to have adrenaline pumping through you,” Pursley said. “Now I know.”
“The Price Is Right” is a daytime TV game show and the longest-running game show in TV history. It is on its 50th season and airs on CBS.
Pursley, a retired Hiawatha Elementary School teacher, has been watching “The Price Is Right” since its Bob Barker days, she said.
Pursley and her daughter-in-law, Pauline Pursley, took COVID-19 tests the Sunday after Thanksgiving and that Monday went to the studio. They filled out paperwork, were split into groups and interviewed individually, and eventually she and her daughter-in-law were seated in the audience, right behind the contestants’ row.
And then Pursley was chosen to participate.
Her heart rate increased and she forgot everything the organizers told her, she said.
Pursley participated in the 10 Chances game where the contestant is given 10 chances to write down the prices of a two-digit prize, a three-digit prize and a car. Through this game and her time on the show Pursley won a Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid hatchback, a smart fridge, a phone, a wine bottle opener and $1,000, she said.
Pursley doesn’t have her prizes yet, the show said it will get her the items by April, but she does have a license plate frame for her new car, she said.
A couple things surprised her about being on the show. Because the glare from the lights is so bright many things were dull on set to offset them for the cameras. The studio was a lot smaller than it looks on TV, the cameras are more obvious when you’re there in person and the show was “a lot of stop and start” for editing purposes, she said.
She also noticed how nice everyone was. The host, Drew Carey, talked to the audience between takes. Everybody was rooting for everybody and there was a lot of kindness, one of the things she likes about watching the show.
“I would do it again, it was so much fun,” she said.
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Although the show was filmed in November it didn’t air until Tuesday, so Pursley had to keep what she won a secret. She could tell people that if they wanted to see someone they knew on “The Price Is Right” to record the Jan. 12 episode.
And Jan. 12 was a lot of fun. The family threw a small watch party, complete with cookies, and people were posting on social media and texting Pursley about her TV appearance.
One of her favorite moments was FaceTiming her granddaughters in California while they watched the show.
It was great seeing the looks on their faces when they saw their mom and grandma on TV. The littlest one kept looking at the phone, and her grandma’s face, and the TV, where grandma also was, because she couldn’t figure it out.
And then she started saying grandma won, grandma won.
“That was priceless to me,” Pursley said.
Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2022/01/13/okemos-woman-wins-car-the-price-right-tv-show/9198280002/
