The Chester Fritz Auditorium buzzed with pure excitement as the audience waited with bated breath for the Price is Right Live to start. The auditorium was packed with people.

The main floor seating was full and half of the balcony seating was taken.

Several large groups of people came sporting matching shirts. Friends and family of all ages were ready to play and to win big.

The announcement rang through the auditorium saying that the show would start in five minutes. “Shout!” by The Isley Brothers began to play and everyone went nuts. People stood up started screaming their heads off and waving their hands in the air (like they just didn’t care.) It was one of the few times I saw the people of Grand Forks so excited.

The show began with Andy Martello, the MC for the show, coming out and getting everyone all riled up to participate in the show. Martello showed training videos to remind audience members how to “come on down!” to the stage to play.

The training videos had clips from the TV show of contestants running to the stage with gusto, doing acrobatics, screaming their heads off and generally having a fantastic time. Martello encouraged all audience members who were called to play to show great enthusiasm while coming on down to the stage.

Martello had the crowd hyped up and ready to play. He announced the show’s host Todd Newton and the games began.

Contestants were called up in groups of four to guess the “actual retail price” of select items. The contestant who was under and closest to the actual retail price moved on to play the Price is Right Games. In addition, random audience members were announced as instant winners of $25 gift cards to Amazon, as well as Bed Bath and Beyond.

John Kenton, from Grand Forks, won a Kenmore washer and dryer set and a year supply of Tide detergent playing Cliff Hangers. Kenton inquired with Newton if the Tide was in Pod form, because it is important to keep children safe. Tide Pods are not candy; they’re for laundry. Please wash your clothes responsibly.

Punch-a-Bunch, Any Number, Plink-o and the Checkout Game were played. The audience cheered when money and prizes were won and awed when contestants lost. The most exciting win of the night was during the Checkout Game.

Out of the four contestants, Heather guessed closest to the actual retail price of a Jim Beam Outdoor Smoker. Heather went onto the stage and Newton asked her who she came with to the show. Heather pointed out her friends, family and husband. Newton inquired how long they had been married and Heather said they had only been married six months.

Newton then asked Heather’s husband Ben to come onto the stage, because newly married couples have to do everything together. The game they were playing was Checkout. They needed to guess the price of the grocery items displayed and the total of their guessed prices needed to be within $2 either above or below the actual retail total of the grocery items.

The prize at stake was an all exclusive trip to Hawaii. The couples guessed the prices coming to a total of $22.24. The total actual retail price of the groceries came to $21.28. Heather and Ben were within their $2 limit, winning them their honeymoon trip to Hawaii.

The final game of the show was the Showcase Round. Martello called down contestants Paul and Sonia to play. They needed to guess the entire actual retail price of a Kitchen Aide set, a home Apple computer, a trip to Hollywood, a trip to Rome and a 2018 Kia Seoul.

Unfortunately, both Sonia and Paul guess over the entire actual retail price and they didn’t win any of the big prizes. However, Newton and Martello agreed that they did not want to leave Grand Forks on that note. They decided to give away the trip to Hollywood to an audience member.

Newton announced the name of the audience member, who appeared not to be there. It was a bit of a disappointing end to the night. However, watching the games and contestants go up to play was great fun for everyone.

Aimee Coons is an A&C writer for the Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected]