“The Price is Right Live” host Todd Newton discovered the TV game show “The Price is Right” as a kid, thanks to his grandmother.
“She had a crush on (show host) Bob Barker,” he said in a phone interview while touring with the show in Winnipeg, Canada. The production is so big, he said, that it requires two 18-wheelers and a tour bus to transport it.
“When we started this (stage) show … it was scheduled to be five nights in Reno, Nev.; not even in a giant theater,” Newton said. “To be a part of this piece of Americana is truly one of the highlights of my career.”
On Oct. 12 the Keswick Theatre will play host to “The Price is Right Live” interactive stage show, which has given away more than $12 million dollars in cash and prizes for more than a decade.
Just as Barker, and the late Richard Dawson of the original “Family Feud,” passed down their tricks of the trade to Newton, the seasoned radio/TV personality and game show host shared some information you should know about “The Price is Right Live.”
?”The Price is Right” games you love and remember – Plinko, Ciffhangers, etc. – could pop up at any time during the show. Although there are 85 different “Price is Right Games,” Newton said they tend to stick with the “greatest hits.”
?Just like the TV show – which has been hosted by Drew Carey since 2007 – money, new cars, vacations and appliances are all possible prizes.
?The contestants for the live show are truly chosen randomly. No need to arrive wearing a crazy outfit, but you do have to be at least 18 to be eligible.
?There will not be TV cameras, and this is not an audition for the TV show.
?”We’re produced by the same people that do the TV show,” Newton said of FremantleMedia North America (and licensed by FremantleMedia).
A Daytime Emmy Award-winner, Newton first appeared on TV in the mid-’90s on E! Entertainment Television, then entered the game show host world in 1999 with GSN’s “Hollywood Showdown.” He has since awarded contestants more than $45 million dollars in cash and prizes on shows such as “Whammy,” “Family Game Night,” “Instant Millionaire” and “Monopoly Millionaires’ Club.”
For Newton, “game shows are the only true reality television because you’re seeing true emotion, raw emotion,” whether from a student trying to win money to pay off an education loan or a senior citizen that’s never been on a vacation.
When asked what it takes to maintain a career in game shows, Newton said that Barker advised him to always remember the contestants and the games are bigger stars than the host. He also approaches a new game show job like it’s a dating relationship. There’s always a chance it could be “the one,” or “when it’s starting to go south, it’s about resolving it in a classy and mature way.”
When not in front of the camera or live on stage, the father of two is the author of three books and the founder of Newton Fund 4 Kids, which provides health care to children in need regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
