‘This is crazy!’ Roseville man wins exotic trip, new car on ‘The Price is Right’
Last October, Mark Kobrya found himself face-to-face with a pair of GoPro cameras and a tripod in a Los Angeles-area television studio. He eyeballed its retail cost at roughly $826, which got him invited to play a game live with Drew Carey.
“Let’s go! Yes!” the civil engineer exclaimed as he leaped onto “The Price is Right” stage. That day, Kobrya accumulated nearly $40,000 worth of prizes on the iconic CBS game show.
Less than 24 hours prior, Kobrya was not even planning to be in the audience for the game show’s taping, let alone winning the jackpot.
“I woke up at 4:30 a.m. because we drove (to Los Angeles) the same day,” Kobrya said. “It was just so surreal ... a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Come on down!
Kobrya and his wife, Jennifer Kobrya, went on a lighthearted vacation to Los Angeles and Disneyland in October. They certainly didn’t expect to return with an all-expenses-paid trip to the Caribbean and a brand-new car.
The Kobryas’ road trip to Southern California, organized by friends from their church, included a free day in Los Angeles. When searching for fun things to do in the city, Jennifer Kobrya found an open taping of “The Price is Right.”
“I wanted to go to the beach to sleep ... and then I was like,’You know what? Let’s (go to the show),’” Mark Kobrya said.
The day before their trip, the couple signed up for first-come, first-serve tickets. They hit the road early to arrive in time for check-in, where they sat with dozens of other audience members and hopeful players.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” Mark Kobrya said. “Everyone’s super happy and excited, saying ‘Come on down, you’re the next player!’ Just kind of doing all those little bits.”
After a rapid-fire interview with the game show’s producers to show off his energy and personality, Kobrya entered the sound stage and waited for filming to start. When the show’s iconic “come on down!” catchphrase rang out through the Glendale studio calling Kobrya’s name, he “freaked out.”
“I couldn’t hear it, I actually saw my name (on a written placard),” he said. “It was awesome.”
Producers allowed Kobrya to keep the handwritten sign that invited him to play on the game show he said he loved watching during sick days growing up.
If the price is right
After winning the initial camera and tripod package, Kobrya had the opportunity to play a simple game called “Coming or Going” to win a six-night all-inclusive trip to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands for himself and his wife.
The game required Kobrya to guess the price of the trip by tilting a platform with four numbers to show the correct price — either $7,359 or $9,537. After a brief deliberation, Kobrya correctly guessed the trip’s cost at $9,537 and won his second prize of the day.
Kobrya continued on to the Showcase Showdown, in which players spin a large wheel listing small dollar amounts up to $1, aiming to get a number as close to $1 as possible — without going over within two spins.
The Roseville civil engineer beat out two other players with a $0.95 on his first spin, which advanced him to the final Showcase round.
“Me?!” Kobrya exclaimed when he won the face-off. “I’m going to the Showcase, this is crazy!”
In the final Showcase round of the game, the final two players guess the price on a large collection of high-value items and the closest guess to the correct price without going over wins the whole pot.
Kobrya’s prize pool included a PlayStation 5 and virtual reality headset with video games, a patio furniture set with backyard games, and a 2025 Hyundai Venue SEL.
Announcer George Gray said during the show that the set could be Kobrya’s “if the price is right.” Kobrya estimated the Showcase at $26,550, which was just under $2,000 less than the actual price and a small enough difference to secure the win.
“Mark just won $38,988 of prizes,” host Carey announced as Kobrya and his wife ran to their new car.
“It was really, really fun,” Kobrya said when reflecting on the taping. “After that, I was exhausted. The adrenaline crash hit me so hard.”
The full taping, from checking in to leaving the studio, took about 5 1/2 hours, according to Kobrya.
Television’s most exciting hour
For the following five months, the Kobryas sat on the huge secret — if they told anyone about their big win, they would forfeit all of their prizes.
When the episode aired Friday, March 6, Kobrya hoped to host a watch party with friends and family to surprise them with the appearance. He didn’t expect members of his community would be watching the show live as it premiered.
“Then 15 minutes after it aired, I’m getting text messages saying congratulations,” Mark Kobrya said. “Turns out I (went viral) on Reddit, where a lot of people follow, and people just started messaging me.”
The Reddit post on the r/Sacramento forum had more than 800 upvotes and 93 comments as of Thursday afternoon.
“I feel like I’m being a little celebrity right now, which is super cool,” Kobrya said. “In our community ... nobody has ever been to ‘The Price is Right,’ but now not only did my wife and I get to sit in ... but we won the Showcase, so everybody just thought it was AI.”
Kobrya used his skills as a technical director at his church to put together an Instagram Reels video showing clips from the episode to prove he wasn’t making up the whole thing.
Under the post, various friends expressed excitement, disbelief and support for Kobrya’s win. Some even said winning a game show like “The Price is Right” is completely on brand for him.
“My goodness this is EPIC, this show has you written all over it!” a comment on his Instagram post read.
A fortune in fabulous prizes
Now that the prizes are officially released following the episode’s airing, Kobrya has chosen to accept all of them, but he won’t be keeping them all. The only prize he plans to part with is the 2025 Hyundai Venue, valued at roughly $21,000-$23,000, according to Kelley Blue Book.
“We actually just upgraded our car,” Kobrya said. “Selling that car would pay for the taxes of (the other prizes).”
Under federal tax codes, prizes won via competitions such as game shows can be considered income, making the market value of the prizes taxable.
With the remaining prizes, Kobrya said he and his wife are looking forward to enjoying their couple’s trip to St. Croix and later spending time with their two children — a 5-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son — playing at a nearby park with their new lawn games and sports equipment.
Kobrya said returning to a “The Price is Right” filming is not off the table, but he wouldn’t be allowed to play the game for at least 10 years. He encouraged anyone who is interested in the show to attend a filming, saying it’s crucial to have “a good time” and “good energy.”
“If anyone is interested in going to the show, definitely go,” Kobrya said. “Give it your all. Be the biggest hype man possible, which is what I did, and it got me on there. It’s really that simple.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 3:04 PM.
