A Camrose bar owner hit it big on one of the most watched game shows on TV.
DJ Ilg walked away with more than $44,000 in cash and prizes after a stint on the Price is Right.
It started when DJ’s wife Lana got tickets to the daytime talk show Ellen. The couple decided to invite a couple of friends for the vacation and take in some other shows, one of them being the Price is Right, a show DJ watched a lot while growing up.
“I’ve watched it for 20 years,” he told Global Tuesday as he and a group of his friends sat down at his bar to watch the episode.
Many of those gathered had no idea DJ was the big winner.
“We weren’t allowed to say anything to anybody,” Lana explains, “It’s been so hard not to tell anybody.”
That two week wait was the toughest part for the group.
“For two weeks, it kind of even made it like it didn’t happen for the fact you couldn’t talk about it with anybody,” says DJ.
- Hundreds of public sector workers warned their jobs could be cut: union
- ‘Patients get relief’: Researchers recommending nerve blockers to treat migraines
- Health Canada recalls glucose monitors that may give ‘incorrect’ readings
- Colleen Jones remembered: Funeral, celebration of life honours famed curler, broadcaster
“For two weeks, because you basically can’t say anything until the show airs,” says his friend Lucas Norrie, who went on the trip with the Ilgs and was sitting in the audience. “So sitting there for two weeks and having your friends and family poking and prodding and trying to figure out who won, who went on, what did you win?”
Get daily National news
DJ was one of the first four to be called down for the game, but he almost missed it. Despite being called DJ all his life, the game show made him go by his given name Daniel. When Daniel was called he couldn’t hear it and needed his wife, Lana, to give him a push and tell him to go on down.
“You don’t get much time to think about anything when you get down there,” he says, “The first thing that came to mind is I couldn’t believe it looks like they haven’t renovated. On TV, they got that old school look, well l it really looks old, like it hasn’t been renovated in 30 years.”
“I didn’t feel nervous down there but you’re on the edge of your seat and you’re, like, “I can’t believe this is happening, how did I get here.”
The first thing to bid on was a pair of designer ladies shoes. Ilg was the second bidder and guessed a price of $1,299. He came the closest and was the first contestant.
“I’m not a nervous type at all, but you get in that atmosphere and everyone’s going crazy and the nerves hit. I could sit at home for almost 20 years and get everything but once your there.”
He played a game called “The Switch Game”. Basically he had to guess whether the prices shown for two items, a TV and an ATV, were correct or needed to be switched. He guessed right and won both, but that wasn’t the end of his lucky streak.
Ilg next had to spin the Big Wheel to determine who would go to the Showcase Showdown at the end of the show and he hit it big again.
“I kind of leaned out to look, ‘tick, tick’ and the audience is going crazy, and I spun a dollar. I couldn’t even believe it. I couldn’t believe it.”
“He’s had that dream for years to actually spin the wheel and to hit a thousand bucks on his first spin is pretty big,” says Norrie.
That netted him another $1,000.
His showcase included an ipod docking station, a pair of retro looking appliances and a new Camaro. Ilg didn’t want to overbid so slashed a few thousand dollars off what he originally thought the showcase was worth.
The other guy overbid on a showcase featuring trips and a boat, giving Ilg the big win.
“Boats are cool but cars are better,” smiles Ilg.
“The entire time, for the whole hour and ten minute taping, it was heart pounding and never really knowing what was going to happen next,” says Norrie, “It was intense.”
“It’s been like a ball of excitement that it was just waiting to explode to tell people that it actually happened,” says Lana, “My husband is just so lucky with everything he touches , it just seems to turn to gold. It seems right that he was on it.”
“He did pretty good for himself, I’m pretty impressed. But I’m definitely not surprised. That’s his luck, I wish I had his horsehoe,” says his friend Murray Daina who watched the show with Ilg.
“Everybody always tells me I have a horsehshoe hidden somewhere that came through for me today.” Ilg said with a laugh.
He and Norrie agreed to split the winnings, so Ilg will keep the Camaro and the rest will go to Norrie.
Comments