Kansas woman wins big — very big — on ‘The Price is Right’
It’s been pretty hard for Melinda McBride not to tell everyone she knows about the $35,386 worth of prizes she scored competing on the CBS game show “The Price is Right” back in February.
But now that the show has aired, the El Dorado mom and grandma can finally tell all — and her friends finally understand why she was checking on the status of her passport a few weeks ago.
McBride, 53, appeared on Tuesday morning’s episode of the show, and she was the big winner. In addition to winning a dishwasher, appliances, a new television and a luggage set, she also nabbed the big showcase prize at the end of the show. There, she won a paragliding trip to Rio de Janeiro, a second trip to Barcelona and a new car — a Chevy Sonic.
“None of my friends could believe it,” she said on Wednesday.
McBride won a trip to California to be on the show after she and her daughter, Tia, tried out last July at the Kansas Star Casino. McBride was one of two people chosen that day, and she took her husband, Brian, to California for filming.
She was among the first four people invited to “Come on Down” when the episode started, but it took her three tries to get on stage. She finally cast the winning bid — $951 — for a new “smart” dishwasher, and she hugged the front row of strangers before bounding on stage to hug host Drew Carey.
She played a game called “More or Less,” in which she had to guess whether the price for a series of prizes was too high or too low. She could move on to try and win the next prize only if she kept guessing correctly.
During that game, she won the appliances, the television and the luggage set but failed to guess correctly for a new Kia Forte.
“That’s okay. I got all this, right?” she said to Carey. “And I got to meet you.”
When it was time to spin the game’s big wheel for a chance to compete at the end of the show, McBride won that, too.
She went up in the final showdown against a woman named Ashley and passed on the chance to bid on a package of prizes that included $4,000 in cash, two new scooters and a Nissan Kicks Crossover.
When she saw her package of prizes, including the two trips and the car, she bid $30,000, calling out to her husband, Brian, in the audience for help. The package was worth $30,347, meaning McBride outbid her competitor and won.
At the show’s end, her husband joined her on stage where she jumped around holding a sign that said “winner.”
McBride said her prizes haven’t yet arrived. The car should come within 30 days, and the rest of the prizes will trickle in. She has a year from the day the show airs to take the two trips, and despite being a fearful flier, she’s excited.
“We don’t go anywhere,” she said with a laugh.
Melinda and Brian McBride weren’t’ the only locals to appear on Tuesday’s episode.
Johnna Kolar, a longtime member of the Wichita Eagle Dining panel, accompanied her daughter, Kara, who was the other person chosen from the Kansas Star Casino auditions.
Kara never made it onstage, but the two were seated in the front row and frequently appeared on camera.
Want to watch the episode? It’s available to view online at cbs.com.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 2:31 PM.
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