A guy on the Price is Right today got the winning bid during the Showcase Showdown down to the exact dollar. Contestant Terry took home both showcases, which happens when guesses are within 100 dollars of the correct amount without going over. His total prize amount in the final was $56,437. Host Drew Carey said an exact right bid hadn’t happened on the show since 1972 or 1973, but he seemed kind of low key about it as if he didn’t find it all that surprising.

The same contestant got the initial two bids wrong on the show, but got the third bid, a digital camera, exactly right to win a $500 cash bonus. He then played the “Switch” game and incorrectly switched the prices of an exercise bike and computer, winning neither. He could possibly have memorized the prices of hundreds if not thousands of items, but then it’s hard to explain why he didn’t do well in the challenge before the showdown. Maybe it was just luck and some good guesswork.

If you’re in the US you can watch full episodes of The Price is Right online at CBS.com.

Update: According to commenters on The Huffington Post, Drew was low-key about the exact bid because he anticipated it. A fan in the audience who had memorized the prices of many of the show’s past items was said to have been yelling answers to contestant Terry, and the show went under about a half an hour lockdown for review. Gameshows.about.com explains:

Apparently, according to the message boards at Golden Road, one of their regular members was in the audience on the day this show was taped, and had been shouting out pricing answers throughout the show. This isn’t unusual in and of itself – anyone who watches the show knows that the audience does this, and that contestants look to these shouted answers for guidance. However, in this case, the audience member, who calls himself “Ted” at Golden Road, is an expert on pricing these items and has some experience giving correct dollar amounts away to contestants. If you watch the show again, it’s very clear that contestant Terry was looking directly at a single person in the audience for help.

So, this begs the question, is all of this fair? Is it fair for someone with a vast amount of knowledge about the show and the items that go up for bids to be seated in the audience and able to help out the contestants? There don’t appear to be any rules being broken here, but does it take away from the game? I think it does, but where does the fault then lie? Whoever puts together these showcases recycles prizes quite often, so an astute viewer could easily start to memorize some of the more common items. It should really be up to the show’s staff to bring in a few new prizes, or change around some of the ones they seem to favor.

[From Gameshows.about.com]

That would explain why the man was dead on with some prices, but still failed to win a comparatively easier game. It also lets Drew off the hook for not looking more surprised.

Update 2: Contestant Terry gave an interview to a radio station in which he says he wasn’t receiving advice from anyone in the audience and that couldn’t happen because he just can’t hear that well. He said he did know the prices of many of the products because he watches the show frequently and practices. He called the fact that he got the showcase on the nose just a fluke and explained that he pulled the number out of thin air after estimating the cost of the items.

Thanks to The Huffington Post for featuring this video.