Culloden woman wins big on ‘Price Is Right’

“My mother was on the show 17 years ago, and after I had open-heart surgery a few years ago, Mom and I made a pact that once I felt better, we would take a girls’ trip to Los Angeles, California, and go to ‘The Price Is Right’ show.”

“We stood in line for hours just to get inside the show,” she said. “We made several new friends while standing in line.”

Stacy Dent was the first name called to come down to contestants’ row.

“It was so loud that I didn’t even hear my name called,” she said. “My mom grabbed me and said, ‘They called your name,’ and then I just started screaming.”

Dent made it onstage after the second try in the “one bid” round.

“I had no idea how much that type of pasta maker cost, so I just guessed,” she said.

Dent’s guess was the closest to the actual price, which allowed her to join the host, comedian Drew Carey, onstage for the opportunity to win additional prizes or cash by playing a pricing game called “Punch A Bunch.” It’s the first-ever all-cash game to be played on “The Price Is Right.”

“I had watched people play this game before, so I felt comfortable playing it,” she said.

Dent earned four punches, which is the maximum amount, after correctly guessing if prices of items were higher or lower than the price shown to her on the item.

Dent then punched four of the 50 available holes on the punch board.

The slip in the first hole punched was removed and shown to Dent. It was worth $2,500. She decided to keep that cash amount and quit. She was then shown the other slips in the holes she punched and could have won $5,000, if she would have kept playing.

“I was happy with $2,500. That’s a lot of money where I come from,” she said. “I have watched this game many times before at home and have seen people leave with hardly anything, so I didn’t want to take any chances at that point.”

The game play of the show consists of four distinct competition elements, which are eventually narrowed to two finalists who compete in the game’s final element, the showcase.

Dent made it to the final showcase round after hitting the $1 mark on her first spin. It got her a bonus of $1,000.

“I couldn’t believe it landed on the $1 space,” she said. “I was in total shock. I forgot to say hi to my husband, Travis Adkins, and my son, Ethan Adkins, or even my mom sitting in the audience.”

During the showcase round, Dent passed on the first offering. That showcase featured vacations to Alaska and Las Vegas and a new car.

“I had no idea what the airfare is to Alaska and my mind went blank, so I just passed,” she said. “I needed time to calm myself down and really think.”

“I was very happy with the things in the showcase I bid on,” she said. “I did look out in the audience to my mom to see what she thought I should bid, and I took her advice.”

The contestant bidding the closest to the actual retail amount of the showcase without overbidding wins. Dent won after her $25,500 bid was only $2,062 from the actual price, while the other contestant was $3,935 away from the actual price of their showcase.

“I just started crying,” she said. “When my mother got onstage and hugged me, she told me to stop crying because I am not a good crier.”

Also joining Dent onstage was Lulu, a new friend from California who stood in line with her.

“We had an agreement that if either one of us won, we would all come up onstage at the end,” she said.

Dent added that she is on vacation, but has already received many calls of congratulations from friends and family who watched the show Tuesday.

“It has been such a wonderful experience,” she said. “I thank CBS and ‘The Price Is Right’ for making my dreams come true.”

“The Price Is Right” is the longest-running game show in television history. The program premiered on Sept. 4, 1972, on CBS. Bob Barker was the series’ longest-running host from its 1972 debut until his retirement in June 2007, when Carey took over. It airs at 11 a.m. weekdays on CBS.

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