It all started back in Feburary, when Bob Barker made his announcement that he was to retire. Initially, I attempted to get a group reservation, but the reservation person said that they were no longer accepting groups, however, I could be put on the waiting list to attend after the new host was chosen. I accepted this opportunity with hopes that the new host would NOT be George Hamilton. :) I believe at the time the potential hosts included George Hamilton, Mario Lopez, John O'Hurley, Doug Davidson, Mike Richards, Marc Summers, Mark Steines, and Ian Ziering. I had sent in about fifteen requests for individual tickets and received about 40 so I could see Bob, but after hearing the rumors that you had to wait in line all night long or you were actually attending tickets to the auditions , where prizes weren't even given out (as in Gayla and Tim's experience), we decided to let our tickets go to waste and put our hopes in our group reservation.
Several weeks ago the ticketing agent called me and invited a group of 20-25 to attend the first day of Drew Carey's taping. We gladly said yes! It was such a pain in the butt to get a group together, I must say. This is due to the fact that you must have a group of at least 20 to claim your reservation. If you show up with 19 people you miss out. :( Calling people, having people back out, then say "yes, no, maybe, well probably, I'm in, I'm out...but I really want to go so put my name down anyway" in one conversation gets old really fast, but it's understandable since it's really hard for some people to commit and have genuine excuses, I understand, it was just a frustrating process. But miraculously we had a group of exactly 25 people the day of and it was really fun.
Our t-shirts were made courtesy of Ashley P, one of our graduates who is a soon-to-be Pepperdine student. Here's a peek, don't they look fabulous?:
We arrived at the studios at 1:00, which was a great luxury. Those who aren't part of a large group must get there hours in advance to get their priority number, this is a number that states the order of your arrival and is later used as your identification during the interview process, that's how they get your full name and stuff. After the groups are accounted for, CBS studios fills the set in with as many people as they can accommodate, therefore the lower your number the greater your chances of having a most excellent seat on the set. There were four looooong rows in which hopefuls were seated and from then on it was the waiting game. We waited in our line for about two and a half hours. I was at my most obnoxious best/worst, jumping up and down, screaming at the top of my lungs, and chatting with the fabulous "red jackets" who checked our ID's & SS cards, read us the eligibility requirements, and gave us our beloved name tags! I'm sure that many people disliked our group from the start, namely because it's pretty much a given that someone in a large group will be called to contestants row. Apparently not many people like the competition. It was fun to meet people. People would relax when we would say, "Good luck!" or shout out the names of people who looked like they would have a great time. One of my favorite people I met there, Travis, was sitting directly behind me. We got to chatting and since he was there alone, we told our entire group that we were his posse and WHEN he won the showcase showdown we would dance around on stage for him!
After waiting and given our name tags, we were taken in groups of ten and were each interviewed by the producer. He just asked us our names and what we did for a living. There was a lady sitting behind him who was taking notes and recording those who made a good impression. It definitely appeared that those who were able to make good conversation with the producer based on those two questions had a good chance of getting chosen. If you could make the producer laugh or smile that upped your chances even more. The bottom line is that they were looking for people that stood out from the rest of the pack. That's when we really sold Norrine as well! Jason had some good banter with the producer and we actually promoted Norrine to him and said how excited and special she was. The producer actually and asked Jason, "Don't you want to win a new car?" to which Jay replied, "Ah, I don't know...maybe." Ha ha...
From then we were ushered to another holding area that was outside and got to wait for another half hour or so. Then we were seated in the studio. The studio looks really different! It's pretty small and very cramped. The edges of the studio are made up of curtains that look really drab until colored lights shine through them. We were seated on the far right of the studio audience (which would be far left from the camera's perspective) which turned out to be a really bad thing for our camera time. We were sitting directly in front of the sexy announcer and they don't really film that area as much. However, since both Travis AND Norrine were sitting in our small row of about seven people, I'm sure there will be at least one shot of some very embarrassing footage! I attribute our horrible spot to the fact that we got there at our arrival time of one o'clock instead of getting there even earlier to get really great seats.
After being seated, they started playing music in order to get people pumped up. Some people were called up on stage to shake their butts and that was pretty funny to watch. The main problem for me was that it was so hot that day and we had already been waiting for so long so we were really hot and sweaty as it was. There was definitely some rank action going on in that audience!
When the show started, our friend Travis was the third one called. He won at Plinko, which was the second game, while Norrine won on Lucky Seven (at least I think that's what it's called). She spun the closest to a dollar, went to the showcase showdown and overbid on two trips and some other junk. It was so freaking loud in there - the only way to know if your name was being called was by looking at the cue cards. Everything was just cramped up there and you really couldn't see the prizes or what was behind the doors or even the numbers the contestants were guessing because all the filming equipment was in the way, at least from where we were sitting.
Drew Carey was a great host. His little laugh was contagious and during commercial breaks he would take questions, give autographs, or even let some of the hot girls come up and kiss him. I really wanted to kiss him, but maybe I'll get lucky next time!
It turns out that are two taping times per day and we were present for Drew's first day of filming. The producers told us that whichever show went better would be the first aired show with Drew as a host. I believe that ours will be the first because we had a Travis get $10,000 on Plinko, Norrine won a car, someone spun a dollar twice in a row, and someone had a perfect bid on contestant's row. I don't know the air date, but my guess is that it WILL be that first one. Look for me, I'm the sweaty girl on the left with a haircut that looks like a mullet. I jumped up and down so much that I'm sure I slightly wet my pants with excitement.
I would highly recommend going. Arrive early, be patient and have fun while waiting FOREVER, and don't forget to dazzle the producer. Last but not least: don't be afraid to make friends with those around you in line. People can be such jerks and we met some people who were trying to prove that they were better than all of us (that creepy bald guy in front of us - remember him Jason?), then there were others who were just glad to be there, meet some new people, and enjoy the experience. It was definitely more fun for all of us who had that second attitude.
I'll put the episode up on you tube once it airs. I'll let you all know when that's supposed to be so you can laugh at me. I know I'm going to look like such an idiot, but I had so much fun!
Jay and i want to go again really soon. The soonest it would be is in a couple weeks. The latest it would be is around his birthday, January 30. Any takers? :)
And now, for those of you who think I acted crazy for my own glorification, here's a copy of the bulletin I posted that morning at 6:00 am. AWESOMENESS!
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Date: 15 Aug 2007 6:07
Subject: AUGUST 15!
Body: Today is going to be the most awesome day ever! I'm going to The Price is Right with all the Escondido peeps and I'm determined to help the sweetest old lady I've ever met, Norrine Keesee, get chosen!
May you youngin's do the same for me when I'm 84! :)
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Although Norrine is actually 85, not 84, I must say that she was the perfect lady. There's nobody else I would have rather seen won than Norrine! She had the best attitude and her excitement was infectious.
The experience itself is so much fun. If you focus on getting chosen you won't have fun, but if you just go for the experience it will be a blast. If winning is the most important thing to you, just remember that the really loud FREAKS stand a good chance :)
Pictures to come soon...
