HINESVILLE, Ga. — “You don't see it on the TV, but my wife is banging against my leg, 'They called your name,' so I jumped straight up. I was so excited,” Linton Veal III said about his time on The Price is Right.
The guy who spent most of his life in Washington County working for a kaolin company would see a lot of excitement on the gameshow, although after winning the bakeware, he didn't fare so well on his first game with a new car on the line.
“I didn't win the car, but I wanted to get to the wheel," he recalled.
Lucinda, Linton's wife, said, “I told him when he came and sat down, I said, 'I messed you up on the car. Don't even worry about it, but you've got to redeem yourself on the wheel.'”
Linton did redeem himself -- in fact, the wheel is where the whooping began.
He got an easy $26,000 for hitting the $1 spot -- not once, but twice.
“I was jumping up and down. I got a bad knee, but there was no bad knee,” he described.
Veal basked in the spotlight once again, winning the showcase showdown.
In total, his earnings added up to over $67,000.
The show taped in March. It aired this past Monday, and for about three months, he couldn't brag, blurt, or bask in his winnings.
“It was eating me up not to say a word, but I held my ground,” he said proudly.
And now it's all out there, and the only thing the Veals have to do is figure out where to put all the prizes, including a bunch of bakeware.
“I like to cook and she likes to eat,” he joked.
Linton and his wife now live outside of Savannah.
He gives one piece of advice: If you ever get on stage with Drew Carey, know that the wheel looks a lot heavier than it is, so don't spin it too hard or too soft.