10th anniversary of “Price is Right Riots” in Vegas
Drew Carey recently tweeted about the 10th anniversary of the “Price is Right” riots in Vegas. Which is a kind of a funny thing to riot about.
Random image showing the LA riots from 1992.
Vegas bets wrong in ‘Price’ riot
About 10,000 people waited for gamer’s anni show tickets
By Lily Oei | www.variety.com | Jan. 23, 2002
Hell hath no fury like an audience scorned, as the staff of Las Vegas’ Rio Hotel learned when a ticket giveaway for a taping of “The Price Is Right” turned into an episode of “Cops.”
Thousands of hopeful contestants — many of them retirees — flocked to the hotel Jan. 17 in search of tickets to a special anniversary taping of the classic gamer. Problem was, there were only 900 seats.
Show was celebrating 30th anniversary by taping at the Rio, the first time the program has ever filmed outside its usual Television City studio. Since contestants on the program are culled from the audience, some would-be participants began waiting as early as the night before; others had secured rooms at the hotel. An estimated 10,000 people showed up for the well-publicized taping.
The hotel skedded the ticket giveaway for 10 a.m., but began handing out tickets at 5:30 a.m. in hopes of quelling the already swelling crowd. A small riot broke out when “latecomers” realized there were no more available seats, and the Las Vegas police were called in.
A rep for the show blamed the hotel for “completely underestimating the popularity of the show and the devotion of the fans.” The Rio also was faulted for ignoring its own protocol for ticket distribution by retaining seats for high-rolling guests, which left 300 other people out of luck.
Hotel reps didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
“The people who did everything right, and were told that lines would form at 6 a. m. — those were the ones that did not get tickets,” the rep said.
“Ultimately, the show was fantastic, but it’s unfortunate that some fans were disappointed.”
Anni episode will be broadcast Jan. 31 in primetime on CBS.
Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com