The Price Is Right announcer George Gray is currently working a dream job, with his work appearing on fans’ TVs five days a week on CBS, in-person on the show’s Come on Down Tour and on-demand any time via Paramount+. His gig on America’s favorite daytime game show didn’t come quickly or easy, though. He’s been in the entertainment field for decades and took on all kinds of hit-and-miss projects before joining The Price Is Right. When asked what advice he had for up-and-coming talents hoping to one day reach his level, he offered up a two-word motto: “Stay hungry.”
“I’ve actually had a lot of people ask me when they’re in L.A., ‘What’s the advice? What should I do? How should I do it?’ And I always say the same thing: ‘Stay hungry,’” he told PopCulture while visiting Nashville on Friday. “If you get married and have a couple of kids, and get your nine to five, you start tacking on more things that take away from [your career]. If this is what you really truly want to do as your life, not just as a side project, not just, ‘Oh yeah, I’d love to put my toe in it.’ No, if this is what you want to do, you need to sleep on a futon, and have a cardboard box for a coffee table, and probably steal your neighbor’s cable.”
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“You just need to live really lean, because it makes you focus. It keeps you exactly where you need to be.”
Gray eventually married the love of his life, Brittney Green, in 2019, when he was well-established and well into his Price Is Right run. But before then, he had to take some gigs that might not have meshed well with significant others. In fact, one of those gigs, Junkyard Wars (also known as Scrapheap Challenge), was the breakout he needed to level up.
“I did a show called Junkyard Wars years ago in ’99. It was a show no one was ever going to see,” he recalled thinking at the time. “I had just finished The Gong Show. My agent said, ‘Hey, do you want to go do this show? No one will ever see it. You’ll just get a bunch of cash in your pocket. I know you love racing and building cars and stuff, and you can go live in England for about six months, and then make your money. And then you come back, and we’ll get you a real gig.’ That show became the No. 1 show for Discovery TLC, got nominated for a primetime Emmy; it started all the building shows and took my career to a whole ‘nother level.
“Then NBC picked me off to do Weakest Link. And then that got me into games, and then after that, I just never looked back. I wouldn’t have taken that show if I had a newborn child at home, or just recently married, because what kind of terrible person are you? You go, ‘Hey sweetie, you and Junior have a good time. I’m going to be gone for a half a year racing and building cars.’ I mean, I’d hit myself if I said that. But for me, I was able to do that. And I had no idea. I did not have that crystal ball to see that that was going to be a huge pivot point in my career.”
Gray is currently in the midst of the Come on Down Tour, which gives Price is Right fans around the U.S. to meet him and play some of the show’s iconic games. It’s been a special experience for Gray, and he loves seeing fans experience the show’s magic outside of a taping at a Los Angeles studio.
“There’s a lot of people that just can never make it,” Gray said. “There’s a lot of people that, it’s just too far, they can’t get away from work, they just don’t have the time. Maybe they’re not that mobile, and they can’t get around. And so, by having something where I can get to say ‘Hi’ to them in person, they can actually drop a Plinko chip, feel one in their hand, spin the wheel, maybe play a showcase for some cool local prizes. It’s really neat. You can just see people’s faces light up.”
The Price Is Right’s Come on Down Tour will be in St. Louis on April 28, Cleveland on May 6 and New York City on May 18. All guests must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to participate. The televised version of the show, which features Gray’s announcing and Drew Carey as host, airs weekdays on CBS at 11 a.m. ET. Episodes are also available to watch on Paramount+.
