The Price is Right (Australian game show)

The Price is Right was an Australian television game show. It aired in various forms from 1981 to 2012. It was based on the American game show of the same name.

Gameplay

See also: The Price is Right

Like the American version, people used their shopping skills to correctly guess the price of products. Some products were household items such as toothpaste. Others were expensive prizes such as trips and cars. Unique to the Australian version were two elements:

• The two Showcase Showdown winners played the "Showcase Playoff." Here, they tried to guess the price of the Showcase to the dollar. At the start, the prizes in the showcase were shown. Then, the players would be given a $100 range (for example, if the Showcase price was $35,591, they would be given a range of $35,500 to $35,600). The two players bid back and forth until one correctly guessed the price of the showcase. For each incorrect guess, the host said if the guess was higher or lower than the actual price.
• The winner of the Showcase Playoff moved to the Showcase. They had to order the prizes from least expensive to most expensive. If they had the prizes in the correct order, they won the showcase.

Starting in 2004, the Showcase was sometimes known as the "Mega Showcase." The showcase would be worth between $500,000 and $600,000. Before the price of the last prize was shown, the player would be offered a cash value of $1,000-$50,000 to quit if they wanted to. On 3 March 2005, a $664,667 showcase was won. At the time, this was the biggest win in the history of the The Price is Right franchise.

Show history

The show began as The New Price is Right in 1981, where it was hosted by Ian Turpie. He hosted from 1981 to 1986, and again when the show was revived in 1989. From 1981 to 1986, the show aired on Seven Network. When it came back in 1989, it aired on Network Ten. When the show came back in 1993, Larry Edmur became the host. He hosted three versions from 1993 to 2012. The first two versions, one from 1993 to 1998 and the second from 2003 to 2005, aired on Nine Network. The most recent version aired in 2012 on Seven Network.