Little Rock woman makes 2nd appearance on 'The Price is Right' nearly 2 decades after her first

Miriam Bernard, 53, of Little Rock appears in a taping of "The Price is Right," which aired Monday
Miriam Bernard, 53, of Little Rock appears in a taping of "The Price is Right," which aired Monday

When a Little Rock woman competed on the CBS game show The Price Is Right for the second time earlier this year, she had a mission, she said.

Miriam Bernard, 53, wanted to redeem herself from her first appearance in 1998, when another contestant outbid her by $1, barring her from the chance to go onstage, she told Arkansas Online in an interview.

In an episode that aired Monday, Bernard got her wish — she took home a ping pong table and a six-day trip to Vienna.

Bernard, who now owns a hair salon in Little Rock, first went on the show on a trip she had made to Los Angeles to help a friend. When the friend suddenly had to leave, Bernard and another pal found themselves looking for something to do and saw the CBS studio.

She remembered watching the show as a little girl with her grandmother, she said. At 4 a.m. the next day, Bernard and her friend were outside the studio, asking people in line if they had extra tickets until they found a woman who did.

Soon they were in the studio, where Bernard was interviewed and then became the second person called to the contestant's row.

Bernard said she loved the show's loud and joyful environment.

"I was so excited, but I'd never really watched," she said. "I didn't know what this stuff cost."

When the contestant next to her bid one dollar closer to an item than she did, Bernard pinched him.

"'Never in the history of Price is Right have we had one contestant attack one another,'" Bernard said she remembers Bob Barker telling her.

Despite going home empty-handed, Bernard said she loved the experience and began watching the show every day she could, eventually turning it on in the hair studio and enjoying it with her clients.

She set a goal for go back and tried to get tickets for the past two years, she said. When she landed them in August, she dropped her daughter off for her freshman year of college without telling her and flew to Los Angeles.

She said she was one notch on the wheel away from getting the chance to compete for one of the show's top prizes.

"I didn't make it, but it was such an awesome experience I feel like I won the showcase," Bernard said.

She said she felt like a celebrity back in Little Rock when the show aired. People recognized her at church and stopped their workouts at the gym when they saw she was on TV, she said.

Her plan now is to return to the show in 10 years.

"I'm going to win the showcase and everything," she said with a laugh.

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