"The Price Is Right" announcer George Gray is a realist. When it comes to announcing contestants' names while calling them down, the 55-year-old isn't afraid to tell audience members that he's going to butcher them — with him admitting to CinemaBlend that the pronunciation ultimately comes down to a coin flip in his head.
"I destroy people's names," Gray hilariously admitted. "I go out and say hi to the audience before we start the show, and I always tell them, 'I am going to ruin your name. I apologize to you and your family members. They don't tell me how to say your name. If your name is Ta-ra, or Tar-a – that [spelling] is the same exact name! And they don't tell me which way you say it.' So if I look at it on paper, I just flip a coin in my brain."
Gray, who has served as the permanent announcer for "The Price Is Right" since 2011, said there have been countless times where he's run through his coin flip process with audiences on the record-breaking game show. According to him, he's almost always wrong. "I don't know how it's mathematically possible," Gray said. "But I'm always wrong. Always. And that's first names — wait 'til I get a hold of your last name. If you've got like six vowels next to each other, good luck. I'll do the best I can. But I trainwreck everybody's name." Another major problem that crops up with the "Come on Down!" segment, Gray said, is that the wrong people will sometimes come down. So to avoid this, the longtime "Price Is Right" voice has implemented another secret tactic into his announcing repertoire.
