She wasted so much time! A The Price is Right contestant won $7,000, but could have won more if she hadn’t made a costly mistake. Fans said she shouldn’t have turned to the audience for advice.
Alline Ballard, a basketball player at California Lutheran University, won the third item up for bid on June 23. She bid $1,001 on a Riedell roller skate collection. The actual retail price was $1,096. None of her opponents were even close to that, so Ballard won and got to play Time is Money for another prize.
Her game was posted to Instagram on August 13. “She was QUICK with it! #PriceIsRight,” the post was captioned.
The way Time is Money works is that the contestant has to correctly place the items in their prize range as the money clicks down with each second. When they think they’ve got it right, they hit the buzzer. The game show contestant can keep going until they get it right, but whatever amount is left on the screen at the end is what they win. It could be $19,995, or it could be $1,000.
The items Ballard had to place in the correct price ranges were Harry’s Foaming Shave Gel, Top Fox snacking pumpkin seeds, lemon perfect lemon water, HEATH & Spice Hunter Crunch Toppers, and sweet seed seasoning.
She first placed the Heath bar and seasoning in the $0 to $2.99 range, the pumpkin seeds and the lemon water in the $3 to $5.99 range, and the Shave Gel in the $6+ range. Ballard was wrong, so she moved the Heath bar to the second prize range. However, she was still wrong.
For the next part, the contestant looked to the audience and moved the seeds to the highest range, but was still wrong. Then, Ballard moved everything off the middle section. When she was wrong, host Drew Carey let her know that she had $9,000 left.
When Ballard decided to move the seeds to the middle pad and buzz in, she was correct. At that point, the money had read $7,992.
“Yes!” Carey screamed. “Congratulations! That’s a lot of money there.” Ballard rested her arms on the podium and wiped her eyes.
“Wow! What a win! $7,922 is a lot but she could have had more if she wasn’t looking at the audience for advice. Remember Time is Money when it comes to this Pricing Game,” an Instagram user said.
“They always look at the audience! Don’t do that,” replied another fan.
“You waste too much time looking at the audience,” a third added.
Ballard won the first Showcase Showdown. She won an additional $1,000 when spinning 20 five times. Ballard bid $27,000 on a nine-day French Riviera boat tour, including a flight to Nice, theater seats with a 65-inch HDTV, and a five-night trip at Hotel Edison in New York City, which includes Broadway tickets.
She won since the actual retail price was $30,277. Her opponent was $10,000 under the price.
The Price is Right, Season 55, September 2026, 11a/10c, CBS