Brian Curry said he started watching "The Price is Right" when he was about 3 years old. He had always looked forward to the day when he would get to "come on down."
In an episode that aired last Wednesday, the 28-year-old UF MBA student finally got his chance.
Curry was in California attending an October career fair in Anaheim when he said he decided to spend a day in Los Angeles to try to get on the show. It would be his second attempt in two years.
He picked a hotel close to the CBS studio and woke up just before 4 a.m. so he could get a spot in line. After waiting outside for four hours, he was let into the studio, where he waited for another four hours while everyone who would be in the audience filled out personal information and did 15-to 30-second interviews with the show's producer to select who would be featured on the show.
Curry was the sixth contestant called down to play and got a chance to go onstage after three attempts at the opening round. He guessed the retail value of two PlayStation Portables and eight video games would be $601-the closest estimate to the actual value of $610-and won the package and a chance onstage.
Once onstage, Curry played the "Money Game" in an attempt to win a Chevrolet Sonic 2LS, but he lost. He was given the third number in the five-digit price and had to guess the first two and last two numbers correctly. The correct price of the car was $17,604.
Curry's appearance on the game show ended with him spinning the wheel in an attempt to get an amount equal to or less than $1. His first spin landed on 60 cents and his second spin landed on 90 cents, putting him over the limit.
Under CBS regulations, game-show contestants cannot appear on any other network game show for the next 10 years--the biggest "bummer" for Curry, even more so than losing out on the car, he said.
"This was something that I've looked forward to longer than anything in my life, and now it's done. I did it," he said. "I remember standing out in West Hollywood on the street with all my paperwork thinking, 'Well, what next?'"
He said he is still waiting to get his prize in the mail. Curry said he was told the PSP manufacturers couldn't provide the package he won, so he would be getting the cash value instead.
