Wichitan wins car on ‘The Price Is Right’

Wichita’s contestant on “The Price Is Right” won a Fiat 500 worth nearly $20,000 on Tuesday’s episode of the game show.

Jo Mahoney, a 61-year-old resident of west Wichita, appeared on Tuesday’s episode at 10 a.m. on CBS. The car she won is valued at $19,743.

“It’s just crazy,” she said in reaction to watching the show. “It just brought back so many of the feelings.”

She watched the show in Hutchinson with her brother, sister-in-law and best friend from high school. She grew up on a farm between Nickerson and Hutchinson and moved to Wichita for work in the early 1990s.

“The Price Is Right” consists of several different games where contestants guess prices of various merchandise to win money and prizes.

Drew Carey, the show’s host, called Mahoney to “come on down” for “The Price Is Right” at the start of the show. She was one of the first four contestants to start off the show and guess the price of a ping pong table. She stayed at the guessing station for about half the show as other contestants moved on and won prizes.

“It’s one of those things you can put on your bucket list and never get checked off, but when you get on – my gosh, what a highlight,” Mahoney said Monday about the show.

She went on to guess prices of a necklace, tablet and headphones, hammock and finally a car audio package before advancing to her own price-guessing game where eventually she won a bright blue Fiat 500.

She went up to the set’s vibrant colors, flashing lights and 1970s-themed decorations to play something called the “Pocket Change Game.” It involved Mahoney guessing digits of the car’s price in linear order among five digits available on the board.

Mahoney consulted the audience before most of her guesses. But when it came to the final digit, she had the choice of either the number two or the number three.

“Three,” she exclaimed. “My son was born on Nov. 3.”

“Yeah, you got it,” Carey said in an upbeat voice.

‘Pure luck’

Many other contestants and audience members dress up in themed outfits or outlandish t-shirts, but Mahoney wore a T-shirt and shorts from her carry-on bag that she packed to move her son from Miami to L.A.

“I drove a moving truck from Miami to here,” she said to Carey on the show.

Carey responded saying, “Well if you’re good at driving, Jo, park the moving van and take out your new car.”

The show displayed a cobalt blue hatchback Fiat on the screen.

Mahoney talked with The Eagle on Monday, but couldn’t reveal details about the show or her winnings before it aired.

She said she doesn’t know why she got picked for the show, but that her son describes her as someone who gets excited just picking up a penny.

She said she played with “pure luck” and hadn’t practiced price guessing before the show. Mahoney said she’s called the show multiple times since the filming date to verify that she did win a car.

“You know, you sort of have to pinch yourself,” she said Monday.

The show crew, she said, told her she would receive the car about one to three months from now.

“I think when I actually get the car it will finally hit me, ‘wow,’” Mahoney said. “This is something that’s pretty special. Not very many people can say ‘hey, I won a car.’”

She said she hopes she can receive the Fiat in yellow.

“I like happy colors,” she said. “I wear a lot of bright colors.”

And she already has a yellow car collection of her own with a yellow Chevy Colorado Extreme and a yellow Goldwing Motorcycle Trike. She also owns a Chevy Cruze.

‘Such a rush’

Mahoney’s been on several Hollywood TV sets as an audience member during the time her son lived in Los Angeles before he moved to Miami. She said she’s been to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Let’s Make A Deal” once each and visited “The Talk” seven or eight times.

But she said she forgot about many of the details from competing on “The Price Is Right” because of the excitement and adrenaline.

“I was really sort of oblivious,” she said.

Mahoney plans to visit Los Angeles in December with her best friend from high school, who watched Mahoney’s debut episode with her on Tuesday.

At first, the two planned the trip to Los Angeles to see “The Talk” because her friend wanted to see the show and city after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

But Mahoney said after Tuesday’s episode, her friend wants to try to get on “The Price Is Right,” too.

“What an incredible experience,” Mahoney said. “I wish everyone could have that opportunity, because it’s such a rush.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Wichitan wins car on ‘The Price Is Right’."