Did Drew Carey give a player an extra nudge during The Price Is Right’s Line ‘Em Up game, leading to her winning a new car? At least one fan thought so, taking to social media to accuse the beloved host of foul play by not keeping to himself during the segment.
On the November 20 episode, Agnes played Line ‘Em Up for a car and three prizes. The game starts with the first and last digits of the car’s price already revealed. Three smaller prize prices are between them, each containing one of the car’s remaining digits. The contestant must slide these prices into position to complete the car’s price. If they get it right on the first try, they win everything. If not, they’re told how many digits are correct and get one more chance to line up the numbers to win
Agnes took to the game board with a “2” set at the top and a “4” set at the bottom. She chose a “3, 4, 7” as the middle numbers, valuing the car at $2,3474. This was completely incorrect and she got none of the middle prices. Carey urged, “Change all three numbers, this is your last chance. Good luck.”
Agnes changed the “3” in the second row to an “8” (above) and Carey reminded her about the following row, “You have to change this to a ‘2’ because the ‘4’ is wrong.”
At this point, the in-studio audience began chanting “Zero!” with such intensity that Carey broke out into a grin and Agnes into confused expression. She seemed mystified at why the crowd was chanting.
“What do they mean by zero? I can make this a zero?” she asked. Carey pointed to the second row and told her, “They want you to make this a zero.” “Make that a zero?” she asked. He confirmed, “That’s what they’re chanting. You can do whatever you want.”
Agnes switched the second row over from the initial swap she was going to lock in, an “8,” to a “0,” making the price $2,0264. She locked that alternative in (below) and model Alexis revealed she was correct, winning the new Nissan. “Wow!” Carey said. “From nothing to a new car.”
After the big win aired, a fan titled a post in the TPIR Reddit forum, “Drew helping the contestant…” The user continued to outline how Carey explained what numbers to change, feeling he was doing too much.
“On the first attempt she got zero right. So obviously she needs to change all of them. She changes 2 of the numbers. He points out the one she didn’t change ( there was only one option) she changed the 3 to an 8 on the 2nd number of the car. The other option is 0. The audience is literally chanting ‘zero, zero….’ at her, but she is not getting it. Drew basically tells her to change it to a zero. I’m sure everyone will disagree, but he basically gave her 2 of the 3 numbers.”
While one fan responded, “That clip was painful to watch,” the near-unanimous consensus was that Carey was not telling her what the winning numbers were, but just assisting her with listening to the vigorous audience.
“As part of the contestant agreement, you sign something saying any advice given by anyone is solely for entertainment value,” a second user replied. “Bob [Barker] also did that once in a while. No big deal.”
“I think she was a little frazzled cuz she didn’t even realize she had to change the middle one,” a third fan wrote.
“It was hilarious when everyone was chanting, ‘ZERO!’ lol. She was still contemplating the top one so Drew was kinda like, ‘I mean, the audience is chanting it so you can change it if you want.’
“The contestant realized the crowd was yelling zero, but she was confused on how to implement a zero. Drew simply pointed out the location of the zero,” wrote a fifth. “He does that a lot. No big deal.”
“They always have super cheap Nissans on the show so the audience totally knew,” explained a sixth. “I didn’t think he helped that much,” wrote a sixth. “He pointed out what the crowd was chanting and which row had the zero, but he never suggested it himself. And I don’t mind that he pointed it out. I have never heard the crowd chant something in unison like that. They were rabid for the zero. I assume he’s supposed to help them at least clear up any confusion about the rules without giving specific advice.”
One more surmised, “He was just relaying what the audience was saying. not giving advice, imo.”
What do you think, should Drew Carey have kept to himself or was his helpful hand fair game? Let us know in the comments section below!
The Price Is Right, Weekdays, 11am ET/10am PT, CBS