When Dean ’05 and Ben Bring ’07 were children, they spent their summers eating early lunches and watching The Price is Right with their late grandmother Monica. It was fitting, then, that when Dean was called to “come on down” at a May 24 taping of the famed game show, he was wearing a bright orange shirt with a picture of Monica and “This One’s for Grandma” emblazoned across the front. And if dear Grandma could have been there, she would have seen her Dean win a new car.
“When you’re in there it’s like a dream,” says Dean. “It’s loud and there’s a stage that hasn’t been updated in 34 years.” Standing amidst the throw-back set, he told host Bob Barker he could really use the desk unveiled as his first prize. Barker turned to him off-camera and said “Son, I have something better you can use.” At that moment, a brand new Ford Focus ZX3 was revealed. Dean crouched down slapping his hands on the stage. The camera turned to Ben who was feeding Dean suggestions throughout the taping. After burning through the game “Any Number” the car was his, minus Ohio and California taxes.
Having just completed his first year of law school at Capital University in Columbus, Dean plans to sell the car to chip away at his tuition. And not so fast if you think his Denison education had nothing to do with his performance on The Price is Right. Dean says he honed his skills his sophomore year when he split the $200 top prize at a game show in The Roost.