Drew Carey is not my bestie after all.

Many of you have been asking for an update on our trip to the filming of The Price Is Right (known as "TPIR" by the cool kids from here on out), so today is your lucky day!

Dan registered us for tickets at some point last week, and both of us were very excited.  We received e-mail confirmation that we'd registered, along with some other information.  We weren't sure whether this meant we actually got to go, or really any details, so we were contemplating just skipping it.  Around Saturday, however, our dreams came true we received another e-mail that we were guaranteed a seat to the taping...score.  Our information packet said that there are two tapings per day.  We were to arrive around 12:00 p.m. and expect taping to last 4-5 hours.  We were so excited at the prospect of so much fun being packed into 5 hours, and that we got to see two tapings!

What our information packet did not say is that (a) the folks at CBS are total nazis, (b) you only get to see one taping, and (c) by "taping lasts for 4-5 hours" what they really meant was "you will sit around outside under some covered benches for 4 hours and then tape for one (thank God the weather in CA is so nice)."  Let me explain.

Dan was a total time nazi that morning, so we ended up leaving way earlier than we should have, with plans to do a drive by of the Hollywood sign since we were going to be in LA anyway.  What we did not know is that traffic here is a nightmare all the time.  Not joking.  It was terrible - I don't know how people do it! So we ended up arriving to the place where we were supposed to park at 11.  We grabbed a quick lunch at Chipotle and then hustled over to CBS so we would get good seats.  We had been there for around 20 minutes when the truth came out: we were to sit under a covered area while they came around and collected our information.  We would then move through the line and have our pictures taken and photoshopped onto the TPIR set in case we wanted to purchase them for $25 each (no thanks).  After that, we would be moved to another outdoor holding area for more hours on end, moving through in groups of 10ish to be interviewed by the producer.

Side note: call me naive, but I always thought that contestants were randomly picked by number from the audience since everyone always seems so surprised.  Not the case.  They totally plant these people.  I guess I never thought to wonder why there is always an old lady and a college student.

Anyway, after that we were moved to yet another outdoor holding area where we could watch old TPIR clips until it was time to go in.  In a nutshell, we were there from around 11:30 - 5:30, and we only really taped for 1.5 hours of that. LOTS of waiting, but I'm SO glad we did it because we had a blast!

We did not get chosen as contestants (Dan swore I was going to, because the producer chatted me up by far the most out of our group - in the end I think my pregnancy hurt me since they are doing a show with just pregnant mommies-to-be next week and the prizes are all baby/mommy-related - sorry Geronimina!).  BUT, we did get to sit on the second row, right behind and to the left of the contestants, so we are going to be ALL OVER that show.  They tricked us by saying that they had a cash prize to give out to those who cheered the best, so Dan and I went NUTS.  We were jumping up and down and making really dramatic facial expressions, but they fooled us - in the end it was only a $100 prize and they drew a random name.  A holes.

Anyway, they banned all photos and technology - we had to check cell phones before we went in - so I was only able to snag one photo after the fact with our awesome nametags.  I will have to post it later because Sheila's internet and blogger are conspiring against me, sorry!

So, that was our TPIR adventure.  I can't BELIEVE one of us didn't get picked - we were doing SO well from the audience on all of the games.  I mean one of the sets that they had to guess the price for was a variety of kate spade items.  Those contestants were WAY off...I was within $100 of the actual value!  Sigh.  Would I do it over again?  YES.  In fact I plan to the next time I come back to Cali for a visit.  And next time, Drew Carey...you're mine.

Ta ta for now!

Sarah