NEWBERRY — This week we will be able to see Monica Stinson, from Newberry, “Come on Down” as she will appear on The Price is Right this Friday at 11 a.m. on CBS.
Stinson has been a fan of The Price is Right since she was 4-years-old, watching on her grandmother’s floor. Her journey to get on the show had many twists and turns, but the road eventually led to her winning multiple prizes — including a car — on her 50th birthday.
“My original plan was not to go anywhere, but to have a birthday party. My father in law passed last August, and I was born on the day Martin Luther King was assassinated, so I don’t really get a kick out of partying that day. I’m also disabled, I’ve been sick since 2012 and I’ve really been reclusive and in the house a lot, but you couldn’t tell that from that day,” Stinson said. “I let caution to the wind, I almost passed away like three times, I lived through an iron deficiency, then I had a tumor removed that was attached to my major artery. Long story short, in order to work through my disability, I started doing genealogy and I planned to go to Boston to go to the Indian Reservation where I traced my family down. But, it wouldn’t stop storming — and I can’t stand the cold.”
One of Stinson’s sons works for an airline and he called her a few weeks before her birthday and told her he had two tickets for both his parents, to go anywhere in the world. While it has always been her dream to go to Australia, Stinson decided instead to not use the worldwide tickets yet and instead use discount tickets to go back to Los Angeles.
“I was in L.A. in 2005, and made second place on Wheel of Fortune,” she said. “This time, my wonderful friend Deborah Bunch, when I was telling her I was going, she said to go to this website to book tickets. I went and I accidentally booked the wrong day for The Price is Right, I booked Steve Harvey and The Price is Right for the same day, the day before my birthday.”
Stinson called The Price is Right, but they were sold out for tickets to the next day and she thought her chances were gone. So when she returned from the taping of the Steve Harvey Show she checked her email and saw she had tickets for The Price is Right the next day.
Stinson went into high gear: She went to CVS, got a craft kit and took one of her husband’s shirts and designed a t-shirt that said “Happy tenth anniversary Drew, it’s my 50th birthday too.” She also borrowed a pair of her son’s sneakers.
She was ready to go.
“Everyone was so nice, since I got the tickets so late, I couldn’t call to get handicap parking, the guys at the front gate were awesome, I told them what happened and they made a space for me,” she said.
While in line waiting, Stinson said they were having a ball, and by the time they walked in, she had everyone singing Happy Birthday.
“When I was called down, I looked at my husband like I lost my head, I think I went crazy for a minute, so did my husband. The fool ran down the aisle behind me, and I didn’t know. He followed me and Drew had to send him back to his seat,” Stinson joked.
Stinson was able to play on stage in the Showcase and made out like a bandit with prizes.
She not only won a car, but also a kayak set with a Yeti Cooler, an ice chest, life jackets, pedals and everything that goes with it, Coach purses and shoes, a treadmill, a computer and a printer and a few other prizes.
“The first prize I won, I have to thank Walmart for that. They had the things I bid on hanging outside for like six months, that’s how I got on stage,” she said.
Stinson recommends anyone who is a fan of game shows to not wait — go out to L.A. and try.
“Please don’t hesitate, please stop going to Myrtle Beach, please stop going to the mountains, they’ll still be there. Hop on a plane from Columbia to L.A., see the sites. We are in the greatest country in the world, we can have that experience,” she said.
If anyone is interested in watching the episode with Stinson, she said email her at prayformi@yahoo.com, she said she is working on a possible location to view the episode.
