Jared Jordison, come on down! DMACC student wins on Price is Right

Last spring break, Jared and his family traveled to LA and went to a taping of “The Price is Right.” Jared was picked as a contestant and won an air hockey table and a trip for two to Vienna. Above: Jared celebrates after bidding the closest on the air hockey table.

 

Q: How did this happen?

We went on down to LA for spring break and one of the things we wanted to do, we are such big fans of “The Price is Right” and we always thought how cool would it be if I was on there. Once I turned 18 I was the eligible age, we went on down and we tested our luck to see if we could get on the show.

Q: Is the process of picking out contestants actually random?

I feel like it’s definitely random, but I kind of feel like they also pick and choose as well for their TV shows, like the interview process was a rigorous three-hour [process]. First we had to fill out paperwork, we had to give our IDs and have our social security numbers.Funny story there, me being a responsible 18-year-old, I did not know my social security number. I’m sitting here like I don’t know what this is, I don’t know how to get it, so I was this close to not being able to go into the taping. So we had to call our tax guy and call my work to see if I could get it and thankfully my father’s tax guy was able to get the number for me cause otherwise I wouldn’t be able to attend.

Q: Who gave you the interview?

There’s one executive producer guy who lines groups of 100 or 75 so there was like 4-5 groups and I was in group one and this guy would go [from] person-to-person and ask you questions like how’s your day what’s your favorite game on the show and try to interact with you and see if you are excited to be there or if you are pumped so they were really looking for someone who would be pumped up and excited for the show. I was real pumped up, I had just kicked back an energy drink and I said “My name is Jared and I’m from Ankeny and I’m a high school student.” I felt a real connection there so I think that’s one of the reasons I was chosen.

Q: How did you feel when you got called to “Come on down”?

Coming down was just a rush of adrenaline it just kinda blurred by so fast, but when they called my name I popped on up, gave a couple high fives and ran on down to the podium and little did I know I was the first person to guess the first item. When you are up there you have cameras pointing everywhere at you and your mind is going a million miles a minute and I see Drew [Carey] announce the coffee maker and I work at Target so I’m like you know what, I’m pretty good at these, I sell coffee makers, and the first thing that comes out of my mouth is $350, and man is that a low guess.

Q: What was your mindset going into that second round of bidding on the contestant’s row?

My mindset was, I’m just not trying to be that contestant that goes the entire show with still being on contestants row without making it out, so I was doing everything in my power to try to get up on stage. A funny story that nobody else saw (a little insight), the first time that we all bid, everybody bid over, and when Drew declared the bid, they cut that out of the show which I thought was interesting.

Q: Did you look at the face of the guy who bid $500 when he lost to the $501 bid?

Oh, he was real crushed you know nothing worse than that last person tossing that extra dollar and then winning, that’s gotta be the worst thing.

Q: Why did you pick $8253 as the price for the trip to Vienna?

I’m gonna be honest, I had no clue what was going on. I was almost braindead I was just trying to comprehend what was happening and as the numbers were rotating. I looked out to my fellow green-shirts which is my family: Tyler, Austin, Emma, mom and dad, and they are all out there repping their shirts looking good, and once 8253 comes up they are all throwing their hands saying ‘Stop, stop, it’s gotta be that one,’ and I was like, I’ll trust your guys’ gut. I gave the lever a pull and was like, you know, what we’ll see what happens here.

Q: When was the show filmed and when did it air?

[The] film date was spring break of 2018 so [around] March 22. We had to wait until June 6 when it actually aired, so we couldn’t tell anybody and we had to sign papers so that we wouldn’t say anything or what we won. The biggest controversy on this (so many people have came up to me) is, ‘Why Jared, why did you spin again if you got 65 cents and there is only one person left behind you? Would you risk it all or keep it to see if someone would beat you?’ But it was still overall a fun time on the wheel.

Q: When are you leaving for Vienna?

We are going to Vienna March 22 and we will be there for six nights and from there we have to fly out of LA, so we have to go from Iowa to LA on our own dime which kinda sucks, but it’s a free trip so I can’t complain. The air hockey table that I also won on the show, that got shipped to us in September, totally free. [It] showed up at our doorstep and I was like ‘Hmmm, wonder what this could be?’ — it’s really awesome.

Q: Any advice?

Just go there, have fun, be in the moment and be energetic. Go at it with an open mindset and have fun no matter what it is. Keep that energetic mindset.

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