Brandon Wolfson relied on a combination of strategy, luck and the UCLA brand to win more than $27,000 worth of prizes, including a sailboat, on The Price is Right this fall.
Wolfson, a first-year physics student, knew he would only be selected to compete if he could fill the show’s need for younger competitors.
“I feel like everyone at UCLA could do it,” Wolfson said. “To get on the show you have to fill the niche of ‘excited young college student.’”
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The Price is Right, one of the longest-running game shows on American television, follows a standard format: To proceed to the next level, a contestant must guess the most accurate price for the prize presented.
Wolfson said he used to watch the show after school with his late grandmother. He said he prepared for the show’s late August taping by guessing prices while watching previous episodes.
“I was insanely lucky,” Wolfson said. “I had to guess the price of an Xbox first and I know video games so I could guess that, whereas everyone else was older and I knew they wouldn’t know it.”
Wolfson added he is an improv artist, or an actor who performs in a skit without preparation. When he was auditioning for the show, Wolfson used acting skills he developed in high school to portray a dramatically hyper college student that he hoped the producers would be interested in.
“I wore my college sweatshirt, and I just was insanely excited during the interview with the producer,” Wolfson said. “I was shaking the entire time and smiling like a maniac. When the producer got to me, I shouted ‘My name’s Brandon Wolfson, I’m gonna be a freshman at UCLA, I’m studying physics and I want to be an astronaut.’”
Wolfson added he was selected to compete only after waiting in line for several hours with the other potential contestants.
“Because it was during the summer it was really hot,” Wolfson said. “I was in my UCLA sweatshirt but I knew I couldn’t take it off because it was part of my role.”
Wolfson won $1,000, a set of couches and chairs, an Xbox and a flat-screen TV before his final round. To win the show, Wolfson had to guess the total price of a hammock, a sailboat and a trip to the Dominican Republic. Wolfson said he relied on approximation and his knowledge that people on the show tend to guess too high to come up with his answer.
Wolfson’s guess was only $439 short of the actual amount. When he realized he won, he danced on the stage, he added.
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Wolfson enjoyed the various ways his friends and family reacted when they realized he had won the show.
Hunter Hargrave, Wolfson’s friend and student at Santa Barbara City College, accompanied Brandon to the taping. He said it was an unexpected surprise to see Wolfson on the show.
“We had no idea what was going to happen,” Hargrave said. “When Brandon got chosen to go onstage we both were shocked but he used that excitement to win the whole show.”
Wolfson said the contract he signed with CBS officials prevented him from sharing that he had won the show and delayed the delivery of his prizes until after the episode aired.
Parker Albert, Wolfson’s roommate and a first-year psychology student, said he was shocked when he found out about Wolfson’s victory.
“I was kind of bewildered at first. … He was so nonchalant about it,” Albert said. “He was like ‘Yeah, I won a sailboat’ and I was just freaking out. I had no idea because he was under contract not to speak about it.”
Wolfson said he plans to sell most of his prizes and invest his money in a mutual fund. However, he does intend to keep the sailboat.
“My dad really wants to keep it … I live a five-minute drive from the beach in Torrance, California, so we’ll be able to use it easily,” Wolfson said.
When Wolfson talked to the show’s producers at the end of the taping, he realized the role that UCLA played in getting him on the show.
“The UCLA sweatshirt was really my ticket on there,” Wolfson said. “After the show one of the producers patted me on the back and said ‘You wore the right sweatshirt today, kid.’”