Drew Carey Reveals Secret About ‘Price Is Right’ Candidates

(NEXSTAR) – Drew Carey knows if you’ve been drinking before you come to Contestants’ Row.

Carey revealed in an interview with a TV insider that he believes audience members of “The Price Is Right” often come to the tapings a little tipsy or even high.

“Oh, that happens around here all the time,” Carey, 66, said in response to TV Insider’s Kate Hahn, who asked him if he thinks some candidates show a bit of “liquid courage” before arriving at the studio.

“They’ll have a gummy or I’ll smell alcohol on their breath. Not uncommon,” Carey continued, before claiming he later learned that a contestant actually used mushrooms during his performance.

“He was a sketch (comedy) guy,” Carey said. “I found out later when I went to UCB (sketch improvisational theater, United Citizens Brigade) to hang out and they said, ‘Did you see that guy who claimed to be a skateboarding rabbi?’ I asked him what he did for a living. And he said, ‘I’m a skateboarding rabbi.’ He didn’t think he was going to get elected, and he was tripping.”

Carey is currently completing his 18th season as host of “The Price Is Right” — a milestone that makes him the longest-tenured game show host currently on television, TV Insider noted. (Pat Sajak previously held the title before retiring this year.)

Carey also indicated in the interview that he plans to stay with the show for as long as CBS wants him and may even break Sajak’s record for the longest-running host of any game show.

The participants, he added, are a big part of why he enjoys the gig and hopes to continue hosting.

“Normal people are more interesting than celebrities. Honestly,” Carey said. “They’ve all had to overcome their own problems and demons to get their own special lives. I learn more from them than anyone else.”

It also doesn’t hurt that “The Price Is Right” has a positive vibe, Carey said. That’s largely because he — along with everyone in the audience and everyone watching at home — is rooting for the contestants to win, he said.

“It’s not my money, it’s CBS’s money, and we’re all trying to get it together,” he joked.

“The Price Is Right,” airing on CBS, is nearing the end of its 52nd season and the final new episodes are scheduled to air in early July. The current version of the show, which debuted in 1972, was originally hosted by Bob Barker before Carey took over hosting duties in 2007.