REXBURG—While many college students spend their breaks working minimum-wage shifts to cover rising tuition, BYU-Idaho student Carter Navarrette decided to take a gamble on a more unique kind of payout.
Trading his textbooks for a shirt that proudly read “Need College Money,” Navarrette stepped into the spotlight for a shot at game show history on The Price is Right.
“My shirt said, ‘Need College Money,’” Navarrette recalled. “And it was true. So, it was a blessing.”
Getting onto the stage, however, was an exercise in perseverance. After securing standby tickets on their initial attempt, Navarrette and his family returned for a second try. Once on-site, producers conducted rapid-fire interviews right in the waiting line to determine who would earn a spot behind contestants' row.
“This producer, he comes up to you, he puts you in a line of like 10 people,” Navarrette said. “And he comes up to you, goes, what's your name? Where are you from? He decides who gets to go up and be called to play.”
Even after getting through the interview, hopefuls are left in suspense until names are revealed on a poster board amidst an energetic, roaring crowd.
“We looked and we saw my name and I was just like, no way, this is real,” Navarrette said. “So it was, it was incredible to be able to not realize what I was feeling. I was in shock more than anything.”
That shock quickly turned to excitement when host George Gray delivered the life-changing words: "You need a vacation to Saint Maarten, Carter."
When the dust settled, Navarrette walked away with more than $53,000 in prizes including an inflatable basketball game, a set of his-and-hers golf clubs, trips to Saint Maarten and Nashville, Tennessee, and a brand-new Nissan Kicks.
Yet the victory came with a unique catch: keeping the massive win a secret until the episode officially aired on Nov. 3.
“We filmed our episode in August, August 11th,” Navarrette said. “And it was cool because we had to wait. Like, it kind of was hard, but it was also cool to be able to kind of build up the, this is real.”
Reflecting on the experience, Navarrette advises future contestants to keep things simple: go in with no expectations other than to smile and have fun. While luck certainly played its part, he also attributes a special kind of magic to the memory of his late grandma Lou.
“I say it's for my grandma Lou,” Navarrette shared. “She passed away, like, eight months before. ... But it was so cool because it was like, ‘Oh, this is fun. She might be here.’”
For a college student balancing the demands of higher education, the experience felt entirely surreal. But as the reality of the prizes sets in, one thing is certain: tuition just got a whole lot easier to pay.