The Price Is Right hits a major milestone this year with its 50th anniversary, which is an accomplishment that not too many TV shows are ever able to reach. CBS and the game show have been celebrating the anniversary ever since Season 50 premiered back in September, and that celebration has spread nationwide with The Price Is Right’s “Come On Down Tour!” The latest stop on the tour was in Cleveland, Ohio, and announcer George Gray spoke with CinemaBlend about the show and the tour, including tricks for spinning the iconic Big Wheel.
It was a rainy day in Cleveland when the “Come On Down Tour!” came into town on May 6, but that didn’t stop fans from lining up before the event even started to take their chance to play some Price Is Right games. When I spoke with George Gray shortly before the event kicked off, he shared how working on the tour – which has made stops all across the country, starting in Los Angeles and ending in New York in just a couple of weeks – compares to working on episodes of the show in the studio:
The truth is, I think the fans that are coming out on the tour are probably more excited than the people in the studio, if that's even possible. I think the tour for our 50th anniversary has been really great, because there's a lot of people that can't leave their jobs, or their family or can't afford a plane ticket or just can't take the time away from work to come out to Los Angeles to come to the studio to see the taping live. So this is like we're just showing up. 'Hey, you can't make it? We'll come to you. And you can drop a Plinko chip, you can spin the Wheel, play for a showcase.' It's just fun. And I think for people, it kind of blows their mind that, 'Hey, I could just walk out my front door. And there it is.' So that's kind of neat.
The Price Is Right has been going strong for half a century, and anybody who has ever watched an episode can vouch for how excited fans in the studio audience are whenever George Gray invites them to “Come on down!” and play some games with Drew Carey – who took over hosting duties from Bob Barker after Barker retired back in 2007 – to win some prizes. The tour brings some of those games to the fans who may never have the chance to attend a taping, and what better way to celebrate 50 years?
There may be no more iconic image from The Price Is Right than the sight of the Big Wheel, just waiting to be spun and determine which lucky contestants will get the closest to $1 and advance to the Showcase Showdown. Players are always excited to get to spin the Wheel, but is there a trick to coming out on top of the other contestants? George Gray, who has been announcing on the show for going on twelve years now, weighed in on whether he has any tips or techniques for spinners:
I would say a lot of people just really, they try to rip it off the bearings, you know, like big guys, mostly guys. Big muscly guys will try to rip it off the Wheel. And I think by accident, a lot of older women that don't have a ton of upper body strength, they can get really lucky because the Wheel has to go around once, otherwise, it doesn't count. And if it happens to be sitting on $1, when they spin it, I've seen it happen more often than not that they just, they're using all their strength, and it just hits $1. Just because they got it around one time. Everybody's got their technique. Some people kiss the Wheel before.
There’s no surefire way for anybody to guarantee a $1 spin, but being incredibly tall with a lot of upper body strength isn’t the only way to win! It’s also not guaranteed that kissing the Wheel does any good, but we all have our methods of hoping for good luck, and crossing your fingers may not be the best approach if you want to get a good grip.
Since George Gray started on The Price Is Right back in November 2010 before being announced as permanent announcer alongside host Drew Carey (who recently shared a bold prediction for the show’s future) in 2011, he has certainly seen his fair share of spins. The series finished filming Season 50 back in April. Looking back, the announced shared what stands out to him about being part of the milestone year:
I would say just being part of a huge chunk of history, you know, just being part of it. I'm old enough to remember the Bicentennial. 1976, and everybody went crazy. Everything was red, white, and blue. Every food was red, white, and blue. Every car that Ford sold was red, white, and blue. Everybody just had Bicentennial craziness and it was neat to be part of it. I remember I was a KISS fan. And I remember having a poster where KISS had the flag with the flute and the drum. They redid that whole 1776 thing. And yeah, so I think being part of the 50th anniversary was just neat. We would do retrospectives, you know, it was just it was just super, super neat.
“Super neat” is certainly an accurate way to sum up what the fans were feeling while waiting for the “Come On Down Tour!” to start in Cleveland on May 6 even despite the rain, as just the latest stop in the Price Is Right tour across the country. Although Drew Carey wasn’t able to return to his hometown of Cleveland for the event, George Gray had that opportunity himself when the tour stopped in St. Louis, Missouri. He shared what that experience was like for him:
It was amazing. It was very surreal to be down there. [I was] a Cardinals fan, of course. I grew up in St. Louis. I went to games when I was a little kid. And there I am next to the stadium, as an adult with lights on me. Yeah, it's really humbling. It's crazy and surreal and weird, and just a lot of fun.
If you haven’t made it to one of the special stops for the “Come On Down Tour!” with George Gray just yet, there’s still one left. The New York event takes place on Wednesday, May 18. You can also catch new episodes of The Price Is Right on weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on CBS, or rewatch earlier episodes of Season 50 with a streaming subscription to Paramount+.
For more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule. If you’re not sure when some of the biggest shows in primetime are wrapping for the season, take a look at our rundown of spring TV finales so that you don’t miss a date.
