The One with the Lucky Girl

My friend Tasha is one lucky girl. (This is me and Tasha at TGI Fridays back in 2005 I think.)I can't tell the story better than she, so I've asked her if I can just copy and paste it from her blog:

"Ok, so we all have goals right? Dreams? Well I got the opportunity to fulfill one of mine this weekend. On Memorial Day, Roger and I got up at 2 am and drove to L.A. to get in line for the chance to be in the audience on The Price Is Right. I love this show! It was so close to our hotel that we just couldn't pass up the chance to go and try to get on the show. The internet said there was a taping that day so we just went for it. We got about three and half hours of sleep the night before, but we thought it would be worth it if we got on the show. We pulled up to the studio just before 5 am and got in line. I would say there were over 150 people in line by then. We had done our research and the auditorium seated about 300 so we thought we were in good shape. The internet also advised to get there before 6 am when the ticket booth opened.

Long story short, after about 6 hours of patiently waiting and a short 30 second interview process with the producers to get to know us potential contestants we made it. YAY! It was so neat. The set was so tiny. Everything was miniature. I would say the stage was no bigger than a high school auditorium. It always looked so big on the TV to me that I was surprised. Even the models are tiny and short. It was just the funniest thing. Everything was so quick and loud and fast. Drew Carey talks to the audience during commercial breaks and the whole audience sang Happy Birthday to him, since I guess his birthday was last Saturday.

So the second half of the show comes around and I told my husband, "We only have two more chances for either of us to be called down. Well about two minutes later I hear Rich Fields called out, "Tasha Rappleye COME ON DOWN! You're the next contestant on The Price Is Right!" They had a big poster with my name on it. I FREAKED OUT! I think I even stepped on a few toes running down the aisle! It was amazing, what a rush!

I get into Contestants Row and the item up for bids was tons of bottles of perfume. I would say about 20 bottles or so. I had no idea so I bid $600 and the actual price was $700 something so the girl next to me got called up - darn! Only one more chance I thought. Well the final prize up for bid on contestants row was a nice black dinette set. I had no idea how much that would cost. I have never looked into them before. The first person bid about $700 something, the next lady $850, so I did $900, but the guy next to me had the last bid and I knew I didn't have chance and he would bid higher than me. To my shock, he bid $851! WHAT? Are you crazy? You mean I was the highest bid? Wow! It was so nerve-racking waiting for Drew Carey to say what the actual retail price was. When he said the price was $1,195 and I won I could not believe it!

I went on stage and got to meet Drew Carey, it was so unreal. He wears a lot of stage makeup :) Then he tells me I am playing for a chance to win a NEW CAR! It was a Scion XB, not the most adorable car, but a car is a car! It kind of makes ya chuckle when you look at that sexy box car ha ha! This only happens to other people.

Well I played a game called Cover Up and believe it or not I WON THE CAR! YES oh YES I DID! I am still so shocked about it. Stunned, amazed, is this a dream? My family is shocked, too. No one believed us when we called them and told them the awesome news. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the Showcase Showdown but that is just fine by me. I was shocked enough about winning the car. We don't have the car or dinette set yet, they ship it out to us for free within the next few months.

The show airs on 6-3-09 (that's tomorrow!) on CBS if anyone is interested. Forgive me if I look like a GEEK on camera, I was nervous! It is so easy when you watch the show at home, but when you are on stage with people screaming it is just loud and confusing.

We made some shirts before we went out there. Here a few pictures of the crazy but unbelievable day and experience:I guess I can cross this off my life's to do list. Roger was an amazing support through all of this. The boy knocked a camera with his fist when I got called down because he was jumping up and down so much :) I love him so much! He was more excited than me I think to come to the show. He had to go to the bathroom like six times (at least!) before the show taped around 1 pm. It was funny, the boy never had to pee so bad in his life. Ha ha!"

So that's Tasha's exciting story! I will most definitely be watching The Price Is Right tomorrow. Congrats Tasha, you are soooooooooooooooooooooo lucky!

EDITED TO ADD VIDEOS OF TASHA WINNING SAID CAR: