49°
The Elmwood Park resident appeared on the episode which aired Monday, June 3, winning $65,000 in prizes and cash, getting to play the Showcase Showdown, and winning Master Key.
As part of her prizes, Curcio won a cruise to Margaritaville, a stay in the Bahamas and a trip to the Cook Islands near New Zealand.
Curcio's trip out to Los Angeles involved a connection to another iconic game show, "Wheel of Fortune."
Curcio, who owns her own business AP Interactive, appeared on that show in 2019, which happened to be Pat Sajak's 7,000th episode. While she only won $1,000 on "Wheel of Fortune," Curcio got a special invitation to attend a taping of Sajak's 8,000 episode.
She and her husband decided since they were already out there, to attend a taping of "The Price is Right."
"'Wheel of Fortune' landed me on the show," Curcio said. "I was so surprised. I didn't know I was going to be on TV."
As Curcio readied to play the game, she realized she should've practiced more.
"I was shaking the entire time," Curcio said. "Your heart is beating so fast. I had game show blackout. You literally forget everything, you're on the clouds. You have no idea what's going on around you. You're trying to follow along, you're part of your own show."
Curcio was helped along by host Drew Carey, who said she was incredibly nice and even gave a shoutout to her dog, Waffle.
She said anyone who want to be on a game show should just go for it.
"If you never try out, you'll never get selected," Curcio said. "They are not going to reach out to you. What is the point in not trying?"
And Curcio is among rarified company. More than 1 million people apply to be on "Wheel of Fortune" every year and she was one of 600 selected. She said her appearance on "The Price is Right," was what she calls "Game Show Redemption" to make up for not winning at Wheel.
"I won this time," Curcio said.
Curcio, who dreams of going the $100,000 Pyramid and Press Your Luck," recently applied to "Pop Culture Jeopardy." She said anyone going on "The Price is Right" should have fun.
"I feed off the cheering," Curcio said. "If you can, listen to the audience."
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackettstown and receive free news updates.
