'Price is Right' contestant tries to cheat during game but Drew Carey pulls her up in awkward moment

Contestants can go to any length to win prizes on “The Price is Right,” but bending the rules is something few have been caught doing on the show. One such participant was a woman named Christina who tried to pull that in a 2018 episode of the show. However, luck did not favor her as host Drew Carey was right there to catch her in the act. It was a lighthearted moment on the show and things did not escalate to anything serious.

Christina was playing the Three Strikes game for a chance to win a brand-new Ford F150 pickup truck. In this game, contestants have to stick their hands in a bag shaped like a baseball and pull out numbers corresponding to the digits in the price of the vehicle. Five normal baseballs are put inside with digits written on them and three red balls are also put in with an ‘X’ drawn on them.

If a contestant draws the three red balls before correctly ascertaining the price of the car, they are out. Christina got off to a great start as the first ball she picked had the number 1 painted on it. She guessed it to be the third digit in the price of the car and that was correct. She then drew a 4 which she guessed to be the first digit. That was correct as well. Now she had three blank spaces in the price of the car and three strikes all intact.

On her third draw, she picked a red ball, that was strike one. She then picked the number 2 which she guessed to be the fourth digit and that was incorrect. As she was pulling out her next ball, she glanced down and saw that it was red. Christina tried to put it back but Carey caught her in the act. “That was a strike. Come on, bring it up,” he said. That was strike two. Things didn’t go too well for her afterward as she drew her third red ball and was out of contention.

While Three Strikes is an incredibly difficult game, since it’s purely based on luck, one fan might have figured out a way to be successful at it. The numbers on the white balls and the ‘X’ on the red balls are taped. So if a contestant has the presence of mind to feel the tape on the balls and figure out what it is, they could easily avoid drawing the red ones. “This game has a flaw that can make the win rate skyrocket. The non-strike balls have numbers on them that are taped on. You need to feel the ball for a number before lifting it out,” the fan said as per Collider.

However, a game show as successful as “The Price is Right” would probably have safeguards to prevent this from happening. Three Strikes to this day remains a game with one of the lowest win percentages in the show’s history. Winning it, however, makes for a special moment on the show.