After a car accident last December, Occidental alumna Debbie Weiser ’08 said she did what any game show aficionado would do: shift gears and apply for “The Price Is Right.”
With past gameshow experience through ABC’s revival of ‘80s hit game show, “Press Your Luck,” Weiser said she knows her way around soundstages, and they know a thing — or six — about her.
“I went to probably six ‘Price is Right’ tapings last year,” Weiser said. “There are so many different people who work on ‘The Price is Right,’ who are all lovely and wonderful […] and many of whom recognize me, which is hilarious.”
Weiser said contestants on “The Price is Right” guess the cost of items without exceeding their actual retail value. According to Weiser, those who bid closest accumulate prizes and advance through the contest’s rounds — Bidder’s Row, Pricing Game, Showcase Showdown and Showcase. Prizes, Weiser said, range from teqball tables to luxury cars.
Weiser said she sought out episode tapings whenever her schedule allowed, determined to one day leave the studio holding keys to a brand-new car. Despite call times as early as 7 a.m., Weiser said the guaranteed conversations with people hailing from coast to coast curbed her usual morning aversion.
“It feels like a little five-hour, small-town get-together,” Weiser said. “Everyone is in a really good mood usually. I mean, who goes to a game show to be grumpy?”
Weiser said studio audiences consist of 180 people on average, leaving her with about a five percent chance of being selected to play. Luckily, Weiser said, probability favors the prepared.
“I would say getting selected is luck of the draw, but it’s not,” Weiser said.
Adorned in a sparkly, sequined blazer — a nod to the ‘spectacularly outlandish’ outfits of past “The Price is Right” announcer, Rod Roddy — Weiser said she entered the pre-screening producer interview with a revised and well-rehearsed slate.
“This time I changed what I’d been saying,” Weiser said.“I knew that the producer recognized me, so I said, ‘When I’m not attending ‘Price is Right’ tapings, I’m the CEO to a 2-year-old.’”
Although not among the first four contestants beckoned to Bidder’s Row, Weiser said she was the fifth announced to “come on down!”
In preparation for her debut, Weiser said she strategically studied California-based retail pricing, consulted “The Price is Right” blog and sought guidance from former “The Price is Right” elliptical winner, Corey Abbott ’08 — who also happens to be her husband. Once on stage, Weiser said she felt ready to put her preparation into practice, but the rounds proved unpredictable.
“There are games where there is legitimately a strategy,” Weiser said. “And I ended up playing games where it did not matter at all.”
Round after round, Weiser said she kept on winning. After outbidding her opponent during the Showcase Showdown, Weiser said she won it all, keys to a brand-new Lucid Air included.
According to Dick Anderson, publications editor and editor of Occidental Magazine and Occidental’s annual report, Weiser joins a legacy of Occidental alumni game show winners.
“Nearly four years ago, then-Oxy senior Caleb Reyes ’22 won $24,698 on ‘Wheel of Fortune,’” Anderson said via email. “Over the years, Oxy has produced ‘Jeopardy!’ champions, ‘Family Feud’ winners, past ‘The Price Is Right’ winners and so on.”
Abbott said Weiser did not win by chance: her determination, intelligence and personability propelled her to victory.
“A lot of her best attributes really went into play on how this all shook out,” Abbott said.
Weiser said she grew up with games. At 6 years old, Weiser said her grandmother taught her mahjong. When the power went out, Weiser said her family would pass the time with Mr. Monopoly.
According to Weiser, games have provided an avenue for community and learning since her lower school math days, when she played cribbage with peers.
“We would go out in the hall for 15 minutes while the other kids were doing the multiplication tables that would take us a minute,” Weiser said. “We would do the work, and then we would go and get to play cribbage and work our brains in that way.”
According to Weiser, gamifying education honed her creative critical thinking, a skill she carried throughout her Occidental career.
“I still remember studying for my Geology 105 final; pushing the couches around in the Stewie basement, talking about plate tectonics,” Weiser said.
Weiser said her passion for games led to other lifelong loves. According to Abbott, this included meeting Weiser for the first time over a game of poker.
“Debbie and I met in Braun Hall, where there was a weekly poker game on Monday nights,” Abbott said. “I was a regular in that game, and Debbie came with one of her friends for one of the games and really just kicked everyone’s butt, so I was like, ‘I got to keep an eye on this one.’”
Far removed from their Braun poker days and Tiger Cooler proposal, Weiser and Abbott said they now primarily play the game of life as they navigate parenthood. According to Weiser, both Abbott and she must wait 10 years before reappearing on “The Price is Right,” but remain open to applying to other game shows — especially if their elliptical breaks down.
Contact Zoë Beauchamp at beauchamp@oxy.edu.
