Drew Carey has seen it all during his tenure hosting The Price Is Right, including encounters with contestants who’ve shown up drunk or high.
“Oh, that happens here all the time. They’ll have a gummy or I’ll smell alcohol on their breath,” Carey, 66, told TV Insider in an interview published on Monday, June 24. “Not unusual.”
Carey further recalled meeting one participant who was “tripping on mushrooms” when he arrived at the Price Is Right set.
“He came with a bunch of friends. He was a sketch [comedy] guy. I found out later when I went to [United Citizens Brigade] to hang out and they were like, ‘Did you see that guy who claimed to be a skateboarding rabbi?’” Carey recalled. “I asked him what he did for a living. And he goes, ‘I’m a skateboarding rabbi.’ He didn’t think he was going to get picked, and he totally tripped.”
Carey isn’t judging the contestants for using certain substances to calm their nerves, further noting that his “favorite” part of The Price Is Right is meeting average people.
“They’re normal people that live normal lives. This is average America right here. There are no CEOs, ultra-rich upper management,” Carey said. “These are middle class, working class. Every religion. It’s a cross-section of America. Regular people are more interesting than celebrities.”
He continued, “They’ve all had their own problems to overcome and their own demons, to get their own special lives. I learn more from them than I do from anybody.”
Carey has hosted The Price Is Right since 2007, taking over the role from the late Bob Barker.
“I just show up and punch the clock and hope I have a job every day. I don’t think in terms of I’m the longest one,” he said on Monday. “I do have a goal: I want to keep going until I die. This is my 18th season. I’ve got to get the 35 and 41 so I can catch Bob Barker and [Wheel of Fortune alum] Pat Sajak.”
For Carey, he even tries to keep the same optimistic vibe that Barker maintained on the soundstage.
“Everybody wants to see people win,” Carey told TV Insider. “When you see somebody doing something, like when you’re watching sports or a drama on TV, you’re yelling or thinking to yourself, ‘Don’t date that man in the romantic drama! Don’t go in the basement! Don’t give that guy the ball! Why don’t you pass to this guy?’ Everybody plays along with everything they see and every story they hear. That’s human nature.”
He added, “It’s not my money — it’s CBS’s money, and we’re all trying to take it together.”
