Have we ever linked to the first ever UK Price is Right from 1984? No? Great, content.
Cripes at the value of prizes on offer, must be in the region of £10k, wa-a-a-a-y above what the IBA would normally have allowed at the time (did I read somewhere that it made better sense to accept the fine and keep offering the prizes or did I make that up? Although it seems odd to then drop the wheel and its luck element also). Also amusing is the way they handle “you have won, but you sort of also haven’t” in the Showcase. And my favourite bit is Central in the credits covering themselves in case they just wanted to make some prices up.
One problem I’ve always had with The Price is Right could be easily solved. In the bidding game where they choose the contestant who is going to play the next game, it would be much better if they wrote the bids down and revealed them all together, so they aren’t influenced by what the others have bid.
That was the intention of having them write the answers down during the Showcase Showdown in later series, to stop people gaming the elimination system.
I don’t have an issue with bidding strategy as such to be honest, the original Price is Right from the 50s was surprisingly good fun for effectively being only that: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?p=10168
I’d think the disclaimer was like a “all prices accurate at time of time of recording” thing- though the “you only win the biggest showcase prize if you’re within 10% of the total” just seems weird, unless it was a budget thing…
Hang on a sec, this was posted 6 years ago with the same title. God, we must really be running low on content.
It’s summer repeats.