COLUMBUS — “Jenna Witham, come on down! You’re the next contestant on ‘The Price is Right!’”
The 2005 graduate of Elida High School (near Lima in Allen County) made the best of her appearance on CBS’s popular game show hosted by Drew Carey.
In February, Witham was out in Los Angeles visiting one of her brothers who is in the Air Force.
“So it was just my mom and my sister-in-law and we went to ‘The Price is Right,’ ‘The Dr. Phil Show’ and ‘Ellen,’” Witham said.
The show she was in aired Monday locally on WOHL 35-2, the CBS affiliate in Lima.
Witham won the showcase after the other contestant overbid.
She was the first contestant called up to the stage and ended up winning the high-low game.
“I won a full patio set which included all your lawn care, your patio and all this awesome stuff that I need because I’m in the process of actually buying a house so it works out perfect,” she said.
To get to the showcase she spun the wheel and held firm at 80 cents.
Witham, who now lives in Columbus, went up against a woman from Michigan.
“So we kind of told Drew Carey during the commercial that it was a rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan,” she said.
Of course, Witham, representing Ohio won the showcase and with that trips to Rome, Italy, Seattle, Washington and New Zealand.
“I bid exactly $22,000 and my showcase (was $29,856) and then she (the other contestant) overbid,” she said.
Between her winnings in the earlier rounds and the showcase, she won $37,275 — and with that, comes taxes she’ll have to pay.
“That’s the part I’m nervous about. I hear that’s a big chunk of change. I know in California the state taxes I owe is over $2,000 right there,” Witham said.
Because of the virus pandemic, show officials are giving her extra time to cash in on her trips. Usually, you have one year from the air date of the show to go on the trips.
“I recently emailed them and they’re willing to push it back to August 31 of 2021 and they said if this pandemic continues they’ll talk about further pushback. So we’ll see,” she said.
Her California experience was something she won’t soon forget.
“It was just honestly a once in a lifetime trip. I had no expectations going out there that I would ever get called on stage as a contestant — let alone win and I’m telling you the whole thing just went so smooth. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Witham said.
