Screenshot showing Drew Carey on The Price Is Right (Cover image source: YouTube/The Price Is Right)

“The Price is Right” is mostly known for offering cars and vacations as prizes, and the host, Drew Carey, is pretty enthusiastic about contestants winning those. He has learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes, and when he’s not on set, the veteran host doesn’t shy away from revealing some of the things he doesn’t like about the popular game show.

On one occasion, he revealed that he wasn’t a fan of the grandfather clocks that the show used to give away as prizes. “The first season, we would give away a grandfather clock every show, and I never got it. Every time there would be a grandfather clock, I’d be there with my mic like, ‘Alright, well, I guess people like grandfather clocks. I’m just going to shut up,’” he said, according to a report in Closer.

Carey also revealed that all the prizes were stored in a massive warehouse, and the crew members get the chance to buy leftover items from that warehouse for a discounted price. “There’s a prize warehouse where they have bedroom sets and stuff,” he said. “At the end of the season, the crew can buy washers, dryers, beds, and leftover stuff they sell at discount prices.” The host is not the only one who has criticized the prizes given away on the show. Fans do that as well, and a lot more than he does. Being the face of the show, those criticisms often land on him despite Carey probably not being that involved in the decision-making process of choosing the prizes. However, he still speaks highly of the show, on which he has received a lot of love and appreciation from fans.

Screenshot of Drew Carey on “The Price is Right” (Image source: CBS | The Price is Right)
Carey usually has to put on a happy face during taping, but that doesn’t stop him from taking the occasional jab at the showrunners for something that he believes might be drab. That’s what happened in a recent episode of the show in which the host wasn’t all that impressed with one of the prizes. It wasn’t the grandfather clock on this occasion, but something a lot more boring. According to a report by TV Insider, the prize was a pencil sharpener. The contestant was a man named Lisa Hoshauer, and she was playing the Make Your Move game. This game usually has three prizes on display, and Carey wasn’t pleased when George Gray announced the reward. “Yes!” the host yelled. “Most exciting hour of daytime television.”

“I know the pencil sharpener doesn’t sound all that glamorous, but who wants to live in a world with dull pencils? Not me. Not Drew Carey,” the host added later on. After explaining the game to the contestant, the host took another swipe at the prize. “Imagine getting on the plane to the Hamptons with a pocket of sharp pencils and TSA can’t do anything about it,” he joked.