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Janesville native wins 42K on TV game show

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Emily Regal

JANESVILLE — The world learned Wednesday that price was really, really right for Janesville native Emily Regal.

Regal (formerly Emily Hammer) was chosen from the audience to be a contestant on the CBS game show “The Price is Right” during her vacation in Los Angeles on April 4.

On the show, which aired Wednesday, Regal cleaned house—to the tune of $42,000. She jumped and squealed until her face turned red. She hugged and high-fived the show’s grinning host, Drew Carey.

She even won a new car.

A 2001 Craig High School graduate, Regal, 28, now lives in Fond du Lac and works at a tile and stone supplier in Milwaukee. A lifelong fan of “The Price is Right,” Regal said she never expected the show’s famous “Come on down!” line would apply to her. And when it did, she didn’t expect to win anything.

“I would have been happy with just a washing machine,” Regal said.

But Regal didn’t just win a washing machine. She kept going and going, winning an opening bid and then a game that required her to guess the prices of kitchen gadgets. Each correct guess narrowed a selection of numbered boxes, one of which had $10,000 inside.

She picked the right box—Box 8—which was loaded with crumpled prize money.

“My son Nick’s turning 8—that’s why I picked that number,” Regal said.

She even had luck spinning the show’s famous big wheel, which she said was heavier and more awkward then she expected. Her spin landed on the sparkling “$1.00,” the highest amount a contestant can earn. It won her another $1,000.

Regal advanced through the semifinal rounds all the way to a grand prize face-off against the show’s other top contestant.

That’s when Regal struck gold with a winning bid just $2,144 short on a grand prize package that included a new Dodge Charger, a trip to San Jose, Calif., and two Nook eReaders. Her opponent overbid on a different prize package.

All together, Regal won $41,702 in cash and prizes. She said the experience was a blur.

“The fact that I won anything on that show seems like pure luck. I don’t know what my brain was doing. I couldn’t even understand the rules of the game at the time,” said Regal.

Regal believes her instincts just took over. She’s been an avid fan of “The Price is Right” since her youth. Plus, she’s a bargain shopper who checks prices on everything.

“I was just kind of spitting things out, without even thinking about it. Maybe that was the key,” she said.

Regal said the show’s crew was so nice to her during the show that she wrote them a thank-you letter.

“They made me feel like I was the first person on the show who ever won anything,” she said.

Regal is keeping all of her prizes, although she must pay California taxes on everything. That will eat up most of her cash prize, she said. But her other prizes are on the way.

For instance, CBS is working with a car dealer to supply Regal with her new Charger. She said the vehicle will replace her 2005 Dodge Neon, which has 200,000 miles on it, a huge dent and mismatched rims.

“Finally, I’ll have a respectable vehicle,” she said.

Meanwhile, Regal just found out she’s pregnant and she’s closing on a new house this week. Plus, her husband, Chad, also a game show junkie, recently learned that he might earn a spot on the show “Wheel of Fortune.”

Not that she’s complaining, but Regal said it’s a lot all at once.

“It’s been a crazy week,” she said.