Can Delaware's 'Price Is Right' winning streak continue?

One week after a Newark man won "The Price Is Right," taking home a trio of vacations worth more than $25,000, another Delawarean will be seen trying his luck on the long-running game show.

Jerome Brown Jr., a 36-year-old administrative assistant at the state Public Defender's Office, will appear on the program Friday, Feb. 8, on CBS at 11 a.m.

After hearing about Robert Jarrell's winning performance last week, Brown wants Delaware "Price Is Right" fans to watch again and see how his appearance went.

While he can't say how he fared, he sure can tease us.

"I think everyone will want to watch. It will be worth it. I represented Delaware pretty well," says Brown, a single dad from Wilmington who attended a taping of the show in early December on his 36th birthday. 

After a late night birthday bus ride from Las Vegas, he almost didn't go

Brown, who lives with his 13-year-old son Milan, went out west in early December to celebrate his birthday with friend Devin Chambers, also of Wilmington.

After a few nights in Los Angeles, they flew to Las Vegas for two nights and were supposed to fly back home to Delaware from there.

But then he heard former co-worker Carol Boyce, chief of security for the state's Court of Common Pleas, was coincidentally in Los Angeles visiting family and his itinerary changed.

She told Brown that she and her sisters were going to a taping of "The Price Is Right" on the day of his birthday and said she could get him tickets.

Since it was a show Brown grew up watching with his late mother Sylvia, he switched his plans. At 5:45 a.m., Brown and Chambers were on a bus back to Los Angeles in the middle of the night after partying until 3:45 a.m. in celebration of his birthday.

By the time they finally got to their hotel in Los Angeles after a few delays, it was 12:15 p.m. and they needed to be at CBS Television City in Hollywood for the taping at 1 p.m.

'I'm never going to talk to you again'

Neither had showered or eaten. And since they were running on little sleep, they decided to give up and skip the show.

But a few minutes later, he got a call from his friend Keanen Dixon in Atlanta, singing him, "Happy Birthday."

And when Dixon heard that Brown gave up on his birthday game show opportunity, he wasn't having it, telling Brown, "If you don't get up, go to the show and win, I'm never going to talk to you again."

When he hung up the phone, Brown decided it was meant to be and immediately ordered a Lyft — even before telling Chambers they were going after all.

They arrived to the television studio 10 minutes late and Brown quickly spotted his former co-worker Boyce, allowing them to chat and reconnect before the taping.

Come on down! Wait. What?!?

Once in the studio, the show began and Brown's name was called by the announcer.

He says he was so focused on trying to get on television by looking at the cameras shooting the crowd that he didn't even hear his name.

It wasn't until he looked at a production assistant off to the side holding up a big card with his name on it that Brown realized he wasn't just an audience member, but also a contestant.

"It's going to be funny to see because I really have no idea how long they had to wait for me to come down," he says. "It must have spooked me. They will probably edit it, but I actually hit my best friend.

"From then on, it was an out-of-body experience. Once I was on stage, I was thinking, 'Don't do or say something dumb.'"

When he got face-to-face with Carey, he says the host asked him where he's from, just like Carey did with Jarrell the week before. (At the time, Brown didn't know another guy from Delaware had just won the game during a previous taping the week prior.)

"I thought I was like the first person ever from Delaware on the show," he says with a laugh. "When I said it I thought it was going to be like a smack in the face. And it wasn't."

Ditching work, school for a watch party

Brown says he will miss work Friday and his son Milan will take the day off from class at Kuumba Academy Charter School so they can gather with family and friends at his cousin's house in Newark to watch the show.

It is then that Milan will finally find out whether his father won, since his father has been tight-lipped ever since returning from his big birthday adventure.

For Brown, keeping the secret hasn't been hard, except when it comes to his teenage son.

"Let's just say the show went well and what went well will definitely benefit me and him," he says. "I've been wanting to tell him so bad."

Newark's Robert Jarrell won in spectacular fashion

It was on Wednesday, Jan. 30 that Jarrell appeared on the show, winning the whole thing in impressive fashion.

He was the first contestant called, jumping around in delirium with a pair of his co-workers from West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Quadratec, an independent Jeep parts and accessories retailer. Then he made the famous run from his seat in the audience down to Contestants' Row.

The three were in Los Angeles for the LA Auto Show in late November and decided to attend The Price is Right on an off day.

Jarrell had the winning bid when he arrived on the show's four-person Contestants' Row, taking home a pair of 24-speed KHS Bicycles mountain bikes worth $1,398. (He bid $1,300.)

After winning, he ran on stage and was greeted by host Drew Carey, telling the comedian he was from Delaware.

"That's where all my companies are," Carey cracked.

And while Jarrell lost his pricing game, he won the Showcase Showdown after spinning The Big Wheel and scoring an 85.

At the end of the program, he faced off with another contestant during the final Showcase.

Jarrell, 36, guessed $24,999 as the cost of three six-night vacations to British Columbia, Canada, Nassau in the Bahamas and Porto, Portugal. The actual cost was $25,445.

He was only off by $446. His bid was so close, the audience gasped in unison. 

"You can see it in my face — I didn't change my facial expression for about half a beat and then I realized that he told me that I won," Jarrell told The News Journal after his episode aired.

As Jarrell celebrated on stage, his co-workers swarmed him, giving high fives and hugs. He is currently busy planning the three vacations with his girlfriend and may add two tickets to one of them to make it a family vacation with her children, ages 18 and 5.

Brown, who also works as a bartender at Kegler’s Pub & Sports Bar at Bowlerama in New Castle, near where he grew up in Rosegate, says co-workers filled him in about how well Jarrell did on the program.

Now the pressure is on for him to deliver and make Delaware proud on national television for the second time in as many weeks.

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

IF YOU WATCH

WHAT: "The Price Is Right" featuring Wilmington's Jerome Brown Jr.

WHEN: Friday, Feb. 8, 11 a.m.

WHERE: CBS