Senior appears on game show

As the announcer called her name, Stephanie Kleban drew in a quick breath. Her friends began screaming and hugging her. The College and Wharton senior jumped out of her seat and started running down the aisle, following the infamous directions of announcer Rod Roddy -- "Come on down: You're the next contestant on The Price Is Right!" Kleban and four other Penn students traveled to Los Angeles during fall break and sat in the studio audience of the popular game show And although Kleban was "called down," she did not make it out of Contestants' Row. The students said their day in Television City, Calif. was long and fun-filled. But getting to watch the show in person was not as easy as they thought it would be. "You have to wait on line for tickets," College senior Liz Feld said. "Then you have to go through all of these waiting processes to find out whether you're gong to see the show in the studio audience." After receiving tickets, Feld said audience members met with the producers of the show in order for the producers to select potential contestants. "The producers sit in the back of the building of Television City and you walk by them and they ask you a lot of questions," she said. Feld said that the producers seemed to like Kleban right away. "There were six of us from Penn and they like groups," she said. "They figured it would be nice to call someone up from the group. And Stephanie has a very bubbly personality, which is supposedly what they look for." Kleban said one of the reasons she might have been picked was that she had more of an opportunity to talk. "I was the first person in our group of ten and I just started talking," she said. "I had the opportunity to say a few more words than everyone else. My friends were like, 'If they're going to pick anyone, it's going to be you.' " The students said that when they entered the studio, it was much smaller than it seems on television. They were surprised to find it adorned in green, red and silver. As they found out later, the show they saw will be aired the week of Christmas. Before the show started, Feld said the show's announcer introduced himself to the studio audience. "Rod Roddy comes out and tells a few dirty jokes and they tell you the show is for Christmas and that all of the prizes were Christmas gifts," she said. "We were laughing at ourselves for being there because it was so cheesy." The group watched the filming of the show and had almost lost all hope of becoming contestants when Kleban was summoned to Contestants Row before the last round of the show. Kleban ran down the aisle and had to bid on an oven along with four other contestants. "I had to bid first," she said. "I was nervous and I looked to my friends -- and they had no clue." Kleban called out $975 and overbid. The winner bid $1. Although she did not get to participate in the Showcase Showdown or even ascend to the stage and play a pricing game with Bob Barker, Kleban said she had a great time just appearing on the program. "It would have been great to have won, but it was great that one of us was called down," she said. "Winning a four-poster bed or carpet wouldn't have done me any good right now, because I have no place to put it."

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