‘The Price Is Right’ Fans Blast ‘Junk Closet’ Prizes on Latest Show

The Price Is Right fans accused the game show of shortchanging its contestants on Thursday, October 23’s episode.

Anisa and Luis made it to the coveted Showcase round. The segment sees the episode’s two Showcase Showdown winners get presented a “showcase” of prizes and the top winner (right podium) either keeps the first showcase and bids or passes it to the runner-up (left podium). A second showcase is then presented and the contestant who didn’t bid makes a bid. Whoever bids closer to the price of their showcase without going over wins their prizes.

The first group of prizes was unveiled by Drew Carey and was three trips. One was to New Orleans with a guided city tour, another to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland — “round-trip coach” in a “standard room,” announcer George Gray specified — and to Ireland for nine nights. Anisa decided to pass, and Luis bid $27,850.

Carey revealed the second group of prizes to a noticeably less impressed Anisa: diamond jewelry consisting of white-gold-set earrings and a ring. Anisa side-eyed the items when brought out on a tray. Next was a “state of the art” sound system including bookshelf speakers, and lastly a Mitsubishi Mirage (the least expensive car prize on the show, fans pointed out). Anisa bid $27,100.

Luis under-bid by $4,424 on the trips, which were valued at $32,374, while Anisa was “just over,” Carey announced. This made him the winner of the prize trips, and he jumped for joy with his family.

A fan took to the TPIR Reddit forum, let down by the prizes. Other fans agreed in the comments section that this was the “cheapest” collection in Showcase memory.

“Today’s Showcase,” the user titled their thread. They continued: “Ummm… was TPIR cleaning out its junk closet today or something? One of the showcases included some meh jewelry, an equally meh sound system, and a Mitsubishi Mirage… the cheapest car they give away. In a Showcase??? Hard pass on that, guys, come on. Step it up.”

“I thought the same thing,” a second fan wrote. “First thing on my mind was ‘How easy can they melt that to make better jewelry?’ And they did the ‘3 trips is the whole showcase’ but it was New Orleans, Iceland, and Ireland. Just kind of abnormal that there wasn’t anywhere warm/beachy out of all three.”

A third claimed: “One rumor I’ve heard floated in some circles, is that they’re intentionally in budget mode right now, to try to save up for their 10,000th daytime show (which is set to tape in December, and will likely air in February 2025).”

“That doesn’t make much sense,” rationalized a fourth. “Wouldn’t CBS add money to the prize budget for Primetime episodes and special episode? If they’re “over prize budget”, they just have to play That’s Too Much a few times and they’ll catch up.”

But a fifth replied: “That night show is kicking the budget’s a**,” with a cry-laugh emoji.

A sixth wrote: “It just struck me as incredibly boring. I guess you could always sell the stuff.”

One more argued: “Just take the cash value. Problem solved,” to which an eigth fan pointed out that’s against the rules: “You can’t. You either have to accept the prize or forfeit it.”

After a brief summer hiatus, The Price Is Right returned with new episodes last month. Season 53 premiered on September 23 on CBS. Indeed, the longest-running game show in America is building up to a big milestone: it’s set to air its 10,000th episode in February 2025.