Harlow (Eric Crump/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge]

Willie Harlow of Marshall was sitting in the audience of the CBS game show "The Price is Right" last July 22, taking it all in and thinking about where he was going to have dinner that night when they called his name.

"Willie Harlow, c'mon down!"

He and his friend, Hunter Lewis, in Los Angeles for a short vacation, had spent most of the day waiting to hear those words.

Beginning at 6 a.m. that July morning, they'd been standing in line outside the studio where the show is taped, just hoping for a chance to get inside.

They had tickets, sort of. But the "ticket" is really just a pass to get you a place in line, not to actually see the show. For that, you wait outside with the other 1,500 ticketholders, each of whom has been in line at least as long as you have.

If you're lucky, you'll be one of the 350 or so who actually get into the building.

And even if you do, still there is no guarantee you'll be in the audience.

For that, you have to get through a short interview in a group with another dozen or so hopefuls.

And then, when the interview is completed, you wait a little longer to see if you're among the 300 who make the final cut. Harlow and Lewis were in the "standby" group of 75 or so, with numbers in the high 60s.

By the time they knew for sure they'd be in the audience, it was already 4 o'clock in the afternoon … ten hours after they took their places in line.

Harlow says the noise inside the studio is deafening. The audience is so loud that no one can hear anything at all -- they can't hear the announcer and they can't hear host Drew Carey, either. They can't even hear their name when it's called, so the names are posted on a large board and Harlow wasn't paying much attention to it at the moment when his name came up.

But Lewis saw it, and, says Harlow, poked him so hard he had a "pretty good bruise."

"It's amazing," he said. "What you see on television at home is totally different from what goes on in the studio."

The crew tapes two shows, one right after the other. During the break between the two shows, Carey talks with the audience.

Harlow said he's not necessarily a fan of Carey's, and would have really loved to be on the show with the former host, Bob Barker, who retired 18 months ago.

"But I always wanted to go, and it's pretty neat just to have been on (the show)," no matter who the host was.

Harlow was the last contestant called down front, to "Bidder's Row," where contestants bid rapidly on several items for the chance to get up on stage, where the "real" money is.

He said the noise was so intense, he wasn't really sure, sometimes, what items he was bidding on. The item description TV listeners hear can't be heard by the contestants. "I didn't know whether I was bidding on a necklace or a ring or both," he said, "which makes it much more a game of chance than one of skill."

He said he'd love to go back, but rules of the game are very strict.

"Once they call your name, you can't be a contestant again for 10 years. You can attend the show again, but you can't be on again, whether you win or not."

Contestants have to sign an agreement about that restriction, too.

"It's like dealing the FBI or something," he said, "or another part of the government, there are so many things you have to sign."

He's not worried about that, though.

"I don't think I'd want to go back for another 10 years," he said.

Harlow didn't get picked to go up on stage with Carey, so he didn't win anything, but he did receive about $1,000 in parting gifts, including a home telephone system and an electronic gadget that weighs luggage after it's packed.

"It's an experience, a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It's win or lose, a good time, and I'd probably never do it again, but I can say (now) I was on "The Price is Right."

Contact Kathy Fairchild at

marshallhealth@socket.net