While many students spent winter break catching up on sleep or traveling, Gavin Gershon ’28 spent his time a bit differently. Gershon won the game show The Price is Right, returning to campus with tens of thousands of dollars in prizes.
Gershon, a prospective linguistics major from Cherry Hill, N.J., appeared on a spring-break-themed episode of the nationally televised game show, winning the cash value of a brand-new car, a trip to Nevada, a hot tub, and several other prizes.
“I came here and did exactly what my dream was to do,” Gershon said in an interview about his win with The Daily Princetonian. “It was crazy how less than 60 minutes before, I was just sitting in the audience hoping to get picked. Then out of nowhere, less than an hour later, I had just won 45,000 [dollars] worth of prizes.”
Gershon, a longtime superfan of the game show where contestants guess the price of merchandise to win prizes, had spent much of winter break assessing strategies to win, “watching to get a feel for the prices of the games.”
“It’s been my favorite show growing up, and I’d watch it all the time,” he said. “My mom told me, ‘When you’re eligible, when you turn 18, we’re gonna go to [Los Angeles] and try to be on the show.’”
Over winter break, Gershon and his mother went to a taping of the show where he hoped to compete, but it was not guaranteed that he would be selected. Gershon was interviewed by the show’s producers while waiting in line and was later called down from the audience by host Drew Carey.
“I wanted more than anything to be called down and to have this opportunity and seeing my name get called down was insane,” Gershon said to the ‘Prince.’ “I only had 10 seconds to be super surprised and amazed, before I really had to lock in and focus on what was actually happening.”
While his mother was not able to watch her son compete, Gershon shared with the ‘Prince’ how grateful he was for her support. “I went out of the studio where my mom was waiting, and we went out to dinner together that night in LA to celebrate. I’m very grateful to my mom for not only taking me to the show but introducing me to the show in the first place.”
Remarking on the experience as a whole, Gerson said, “Even if I didn’t get picked — even if I was just in the audience and watched it all happen from the seats — it still would have been an absolutely once in a lifetime experience. But the fact that I was able to do what I had always dreamed of doing … I just felt so lucky and so grateful.”
Caitlyn Tablada is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New York, N.Y. and typically covers student life.
Nico David-Fox is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Washington, D.C. and typically covers University operations.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
Correction: A previous version of this article asserted that filming took place over spring break when filming took place over winter break. The 'Prince' regrets this error.
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