Thanksgiving is a time for two things: family and football. With the fall holiday just around the corner, the classic game show “The Price is Right” is combining the two with its college rivalries episode.
“The Price is Right,” a game show in which contestants try to guess the price of retail items, is currently in its 46th season. The college rivalry episode will air its Thanksgiving edition this coming Wednesday and will highlight the heated rivalry between UT and OU.
In a statement released by the show, the network outlined the special episode’s purpose:
“We’re filling the audience with students and alumni from some of the biggest college rivals across the country. When contestants on stage lost their pricing game, the contestant from the rival school won $1,000.00.”
For the special episode, the show filled its audience with students and alumni from various rivaling colleges. Vincent Winston, a 2010 OU grad and a chosen competitor for the show, attended the special taping which he was told about by the OU alumni chapter of Los Angeles.
“I remember watching (The Price is Right) with my grandmother and great aunt as a kid,” Winston said. “It was actually one of those shows where the only time I was watching it was when I was in trouble or when I was home sick. It has a special place in my heart.”
As a proud Sooner, Winston said he was elated to combine his school’s largest rivalry with the game show — although “rivalry” may be a bit of a stretch, considering one school is so clearly superior to the other. The Red River Rivalry has become an important part of life for students and alumni at both schools. It is arguably one of the biggest games in the collegiate football calendar, and though it didn’t go well for the Longhorns this year, “The Price is Right” gives them another chance to prove that OU still sucks.
“Being a part of ‘Price is Right’ and kind of putting those two things together is this like awesome merger of two worlds that probably don’t cross over very often,” Winston said.
Though unable to comment on the results of the competition until the show airs, Winston described the experience as surreal.
“Going to the show and being in the audience was unbelievable, it was just a feeling of absolute nostalgia mixed with kind of an excitement,” Winston said. “It was a place that you’ve seen on TV for 20-plus years and then you’re actually there.”
Sara Hamilton-Ware also has fond childhood memories of the show. The wife of a UT alum and member of the LA Texas Exes chapter, Hamilton-Ware described getting chosen to compete on the show as a thrilling experience.
“We were all hoping to get on there,” Hamilton-Ware said. “I got picked so it was pretty exciting.”
According to Hamilton-Ware, in addition to the UT-OU rivalry, USC and Notre Dame were also chosen. At the taping, she said, each college was represented in the audience by its own squadron of students and alumni donning their school’s colors and gear.
“It was such a great experience,” Hamilton-Ware said. “I mean, just to spend it with our group and go up there, everybody’s school spirit was awesome.”
Winston said being surrounded by school spirit was exciting, and he can even be seen enthusiastically jumping up and down in the promo video once he is called to “come on down!”
“I was like, ‘Whoa, this is gonna be fun,’ because it’s been a while since I’ve been in that kind of environment,” Winston said. “It’s been a while since I’ve kind of been around alumni from other schools.”
