The Million-Dollar Winner You Likely Forgot About On The Price Is Right

If you've ever watched an episode of "The Price Is Right," you probably know that it doesn't actually take all that much effort to get the contestants excited. In fact, just hearing their own name on the loudspeaker will usually do the trick for most contestants (and any other person who happens to be in the crowd in front of the "applause" sign).

Of course, winning one of the show's many signature games — regardless of the actual prize at stake — is a guaranteed way to raise the energy level of every single person in the room. Interestingly, "The Price Is Right" tends not to be distinguished by the size of its jackpots, but is instead beloved for the degree to which nearly every episode is a simple game of chance. As a result, a significant portion of each episode relies on the energy and enthusiasm of the contestant. In fact, this is part of the reason that Drew Carey believes "The Price is Right" still works after 50 seasons on the air.

Ultimately, for many people, success on "The Price Is Right" is usually more of a matter of lucky guessing than it is actual knowledge of current retail pricing trends. This makes it all the more impressive when a contestant like Cynthia Azevedo manages an out-of-nowhere guess that lands right on the money — especially with a million bucks on the line. It's the kind of moment that game shows were made for, so take another look if you don't remember seeing it before.  

Viewers of "The Price Is Right" may be familiar with the "Clock Game," in which contestants throw out an opening guess for the price of a certain item, in order to be guided home by the host (Drew Carey), who tells them whether the actual answer is higher or lower. The goal is to get both prizes in 30 seconds, but if you can somehow get both in 10 seconds, you can win even more.

During 2008's  "The Price Is Right Million Spectacular," a primetime version of the show with bigger prizes, a contestant named Cynthia Azevedo won a million bucks in the "Clock Game." She did this in part thanks to her incredible opening guess of $899 for a sofa. In fact, not only was this guess incredibly close to the actual answer, this guess was exactly on the dot, which gave her another nine seconds to complete the second guess, a generous interval of which she was able to take full advantage. Although the second item took a few more guesses, she managed to get it done within 10 seconds, netting herself $1 million in the process.

The special occasion was deemed worthy of a press release directly from Paramount back in 2008, which tells an even better story than the YouTube clip above. According to the release, Azevedo's winnings on the show came to a total amount of $1,089,017 in cash and prizes. Of course, the bulk of these prizes came from that one incredibly lucky guess during the "Clock Game."