‘Price Is Right’ contestant loses $10,000 — not for lack of skill, but for lack of luck
In the end, it all came down to luck, and the contestant simply did not have that.
March 12 2026, Published 9:29 a.m. ET
It’s always tough to lose on “The Price Is Right,” but to play a perfect game and still lose must feel the worst. That is exactly what happened to a contestant in a recent episode of the show. He did everything right, but luck was just not on his side that day. However, thanks to one rule of the show, he did not leave empty-handed. He would’ve won $10,000 had his luck been different.
The contestant was a man named Matthew, who had made his way to the stage from Contestant’s Row. He played a game called ‘Half Off,’ the rules of which are simple. A contestant will have the chance to win $10,000, which is placed in one of 16 boxes. However, one could reduce the number of incorrect boxes to just two. For that, they had to guess the half prices of a few items.
In Matthew’s case, he was first shown an air fryer priced at $90 and a meat tenderizer priced at $30. He was then asked which price was half off, and the contestant chose the air fryer and was right - the air fryer's original price was $180. The next two items shown were a lantern priced at $88 and an electric shaver priced at $20. Matthew said that since he had been shaving his own hair for a while, he happened to know how much electric shavers cost and chose the electric shaver. Even host Drew Carey agreed that it seemed way too inexpensive.
It was the correct answer, and Matthew now had only four boxes to choose from. This is when Carey revealed an additional incentive. He said that getting all three prices right would guarantee him $1,000, even if he were to miss out on the $10,000 that he was playing for. The final couple of items shown were a $35 pool thermometer and an $84 cooking torch. The contestant sought a little help from the audience for this one and chose the pool thermometer. He was right again. Now he had by default won $1000, and his choice of boxes was down to two, giving him a 50% chance of winning $10,000.
He chose the number 10 box, but it turned out to be empty. The money was in the number 3 box. The outcome led even Drew Carey to exclaim, “Darn it. You did everything right.” However, as the contestant made his way out, Carey told him he would be getting an archery set alongside the $1000 to take out all his frustration on losing the game. We take solace in the fact that he still left the show with something. Most others don’t get to do that. Fans of the show were left frustrated, and they made their opinions clear.
“One of the most heartbreaking losses in modern Price Is Right history. The look from Rachel [Reynolds] after opening the correct box got me. It’s as if she looked disappointed by this painful loss. Ouch!” one user wrote. “Everyone plays this game perfectly just to lose a 50/50 chance at the end, it seems,” quipped another.
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