Come on down! La Vista man wins big on ‘The Price is Right’

A 23-year-old La Vista man won a lot more than pocket change in an episode of “The Price is Right” that aired Monday.

JP Jensen, an Omaha native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, won a 2024 Hyundai Elantra Hybrid on the show after figuring out the car’s price of $27,645 in the Pocket Change game.

Jensen said he’s been a fan of the show since childhood and even tried to arrange his schedules in college around the show’s air time so he could watch it. For the last few years, Jensen, who works in computer security for an insurance company in Lincoln, said he has recorded the show so he can watch it at night.

On March 5, Jensen traveled to the Los Angeles area to watch an episode of the filmed show. Contestants on the show are chosen from the audience.

“They asked you where you’re from and what you do,” he said. “They look for people with energy and they look for people with interesting stories.”

Jensen apparently caught the eye of producers, as his name was called first to compete.

“The news still shocked me even though I had that inkling I might get called,” he said.

Jensen was unsuccessful in guessing the prices of a few items but was then selected to play Pocket Change.

In the game, the contestant is given the digits for the price of an item out of order and must figure out the correct price from those digits. When the contestant selects a digit correctly, they collect an envelope containing a value between zero dollars to $2. The contestant tries to collect enough money to total the price, which starts at 25 cents. For each incorrect guess, the price of the item goes up by 25 cents.

Jensen was given the first digit of the car’s price, 2, and got the second digit, 7, correct on the first try. He eventually got the full price correct but ended up making a few mistakes, which brought the value of the car to $1.

Once host Drew Carey began opening the envelopes, Jensen was 65 cents short of the total he needed before the last envelope was opened. However, Jensen was lucky and ended up getting the only 75 cent card out of 20.

“Drew goes ‘I have bad news… you’re going to have to pay taxes on a brand new car,” Jensen said.

The moment felt surreal, and Jensen said it’s still sinking in.

“In a way I still honestly can’t believe that that actually happened,” he said.

Due to supply chain issues, producers notified Jensen after the show that he wouldn’t actually be getting a car but instead will receive a check for the value of it. Jensen said he might put some of the money toward a car of his own choosing.

“Probably not a new one,” he said. “I like my classics. “I drive a ’92 Taurus and I’m thinking of maybe getting something even older than that.”

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of April 2024

Be the first to know

Get local news delivered to your inbox!