‘The Price Is Right’ Boss Shares Behind-the-Scenes Secrets About Games, Prizes & More

Kate Hahn June 27, 2024, 10:00 am

“The game show world’s kind of thriving right now. There’s ebbs and flows. It goes with the state of the world. When people are looking for happiness, excitement, and things that are a little more lighthearted, that’s when game shows come back in,” says The Price is Right executive producer Evelyn Warfel, who’s been with the show 13 years, since Season 40. She let us peek over her shoulder during her workday and gave us some inside details of how Price gets made.

While host Drew Carey is guiding contestants through the game, Warfel is upstairs in the production booth, making sure all goes smoothly. The show shoots three episodes daily, eight hours a day, three or four days a week, seven months a year. In that time, they knock out 190 daytime episodes plus however many are ordered for The Price is Right at Night. In the 2023-24 season, there were 23 episodes of Night, which included a retrospective and tribute to the original host, Bob Barker.

The day begins early for the crew and audience. Tickets are reserved, with an arrival time at Glendale’s Haven Studios (where the show moved from LA’s Television City in 2023) of 8:00 AM. “But people probably start at 6:00 AM. They don’t have to, but they do. Last season we had a gentleman who slept in his car in the parking lot,” Warfel reveals.

Sonja Flemming/CBS

To choose contestants, production assistants walk the line-up and do one-minute (or less) interviews. “They usually ask what their favorite game is, where they’re from, what the show means to them. It’s really to see their energy and personality,” Warfel says. “We pick people for all different reasons, but if someone’s a real big super fan, you can feel it. We encourage people to make shirts because it’s fun and it speaks to their love of the show. But it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing.” (Just maybe not high heels, which cause Warfel concern when a player ends up in a game where they have to move around a lot.)

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Occasionally, ticketholders are told in advance if certain attire is encouraged for themed episodes like “spooky Halloween,” which is being shot in this summer. “We switch it up,” Warful says of the themes. “This year we’re doing Galentine’s [Day].” They are also planning a cryptically named “redemption” episode that Warfel says they’ve “never done before.” Will it be players who failed and are getting a second chance? Stay tuned.

No matter the theme, those selected as contestants won’t know they’ve been chosen until they hear Carey call their names. Before that happens, the hopefuls troop inside the studio (which is also home for Let’s Make a Deal) and take their seats on risers. They don’t know that underneath those risers are multiple small cubbies full of video screens and control boards, where techs monitor equipment and keep the show moving. They also don’t know which games will be played.

“We have 79 games for a reason so that when you tune into the show, it feels different every time,” Warfel says. The games that are scheduled to be played are lined up adjacent to the set, in a backstage area the crew jokingly calls, “the 405,” after LA’s notorious bumper-to-bumper freeway. After use, they’ll be taken to a warehouse with new ones cycled in and brought to the soundstage. To keep the audience from seeing what game will be played next, the crew blocks it with a screen as they roll it out on a dolly.

Switching effortlessly between games comes down to what Warfel calls “the dance.” “When one game is playing on the turntable, [the crew is] in a door prepping the game that’s going to be in Door Two. For a game that’s [played] center stage, the prize will play in Door Three. So, the next game, we want something where the prize is behind Door Two,” Warfel says. “It’s all about keeping it moving.”

One of the selection criteria in choosing the game lineup for each show is how long they take to play. “We have to do the show in 38 minutes and some change. Some games are shorter than others. We time it out. [For example] ‘To the Penny’ is longer game because they’ve got five different things they’re pricing. One of our faster games is ‘Flip Flop,’ which is usually played for just one prize.”

No matter what the game, focused super fans make for great TV. “I love when people get up and know the game and have their own strategy and you can see in the way they play,” Warfel says. “Like in ‘Switcheroo’ [which was played the day we visited set] someone who’s actually trying to price the things and being methodical about it is better than somebody just rushing through.”

Sonja Flemming/CBS

The prizes, as any fan knows, can be life changing. The most expensive won so far was in 2013, when a player nabbed an Audi R8 worth $157,300. In 2022, a person won a Tiny House worth $131,765. The biggest cash prize offered was $1 million. That was on The Price is Right at Night (a name coined in 2019) “the prizes [at night] are bigger. We get to have a little bit more fun with our creativity and how we play a game,” Warfel says. She won’t give away specific annual budgets for prizes, but they’re able to keep from breaking the bank because, “the amount of wins fluctuates throughout the season and so that we have time to make up for it and to adjust.”

It’s some comfort that even as dollar amounts for items change, Price itself stays mostly constant. “For me, the importance of the show is holding on to the nostalgia,” Warfel says. “The reason people continue to tune in year after year is because they remember how it made them feel, the place they were in their life when they watched — like with one of their grandparents or being home sick from school. We do our best with every change we make to still remind people.”

The set, with the familiar logo, bright colors, and splashy 1970s punch of flower power, might seem the same as when America drove station wagons instead of SUVs, but subtle changes have been made. For one, the curtains have been replaced by light boxes.

One thing you can count on: the enthusiasm. Warfel says, “My favorite part of the show are the ‘come on downs’ seeing contestants’ faces light up when they’re selected. The joy and the excitement and the surprise of, ‘wow, I got picked,’ there’s nothing better than that for me. It’s been on the air over 50 years because everybody can participate. It doesn’t matter your walk of life, your age. Everybody buys groceries, gifts, cars. We’re the one show that everybody can play along. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1970 or 10 years from now, we’re all going to still be consumers.”

The Price Is Right, Weekdays, CBS, Check Local Listings