Since she was a child, Alicia Jacques dreamed of being an audience member – and a contestant – on "The Price Is Right" game show.

"I used to watch it with my grandparents in the ‘80s," says Jacques. "I always wanted to know how heavy – or not heavy – the big wheel is."

Originally, Jacques wanted to meet Bob Barker, the first host of the show who retired in 2007 (perhaps you remember his signature show sign-off about getting your pets spayed or neutered?) and was replaced by Drew Carey (who adopted Barker's signature sign-off as well, according to Jacques.)

In the mid-'90s, Jacques traveled to San Francisco and, unaware that she was eight hours away from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, thought she would pop over for a filming of the show. She realized, although it was a lifelong dream, it wasn’t meant to happen during that visit.

But, on Jan. 26 of this year, Jacques brought her dream to fruition and attended the show with her parents, March and Randy Jacques, while on a family trip with them for the first time since 1994. They traveled to California to visit her brother, Mike, who had to work the day of TPIR filming. (Yes, we are now acronym-ing The Price Is Right.)

The show aired this morning at 10 a.m. on channel 58. Like all TPIR contestants, Jacques was legally restricted from talking about the show until it ran on television, but agreed to a night-before interview with OnMilwaukee as long as the article did not post until after the show was over today. 

Jacques ordered the free tickets online about two months ahead of time. "They go very quickly," she said.

Prior to her trip, Jacques made T-shirts – as hopeful contestants often do – that featured gold-glittered words "Priceless Dreams" on black shirts. She had to do online research to figure out that the font used for the logo is called Pricedown.

"Since it was a dream of mine, I wanted to go all out," says Jacques.

Although the filming was not until 5:30 p.m., audience members were required to get in line outside the studio at 11 a.m. They then went through security where their bags were checked and they turned in their cell phones (gulp!) and were routed to the first of four waiting areas where they filled out stacks of paperwork.

"We sat in bleachers and basically filled out an eight-page booklet of release forms," says Jacques. "Making sure we didn’t have any family members that worked at the station or that we hadn’t won a prize lately or that we wouldn’t talk about the show publicly until it aired."

Apparently, prizes can be retracted if contestants share their winnings with the media prior to the show’s air date.

Of course, a gift shop and refreshment stand – without alcoholic beverages – was available. "The tickets were free, but in the end, we spent $80 on food, drinks and souvenirs," says Jacques.

Audience members can win prizes during this time if they happen to buy a refreshment at the exact time "The Price Is Right" theme song blasts over the speakers. Through this promotion, Jacques’ mom won a travel mug.

There are 300 audience members, all of whom, eventually, receive a yellow price tag-shaped name tag with their legal name written in a black marker. "It says in the paperwork the contestants have to have our legal name written on the tag," says Jacques. "No nicknames or fake names."

Everyone is also assigned a number, which is perforated and attached to the name tags and ripped off when the person is, finally, let into the studio many hours later.

"After the first couple of hours, baking in the sun, I wondered if this is what Disney World is like," says Jacques. "You keep thinking you are getting close, but you aren’t."

Finally, 11 contestants at a time are brought into an area with a woman sitting under an umbrella along with a producer of the show where they are interviewed. According to Jacques, they ask you what you do for a living and where you are from. In doing this, they are looking for people who will be the strongest and most appealing personalities on television.

"They asked me what I do for a living, and I completely confused them," says Jacques. "I told them I was a hairdresser, makeup artist, screen printer and welder/metal fabricator. He tried to make a joke, asking if I ever welded people's makeup to their face."

Jacques thought the brief interview went OK and that she had a chance at getting called to "come on down," but she was even more hopeful about her dad – who worked as a television cameraperson and engineer for 34 years – getting on stage.

"Neither my mom or my dad wanted to get on the show, they just came for the experience," says Jacques. "But when my dad told the producer he worked as a cameraman years ago, the producer said, ‘well maybe you’ll be on the other side of the camera for a change.'"

After the interview process, the audience members are herded back into a waiting space. Finally, they are ushered into the studio audience.

"It was completely surreal," says Jacques. "It was so amazing."

Originally, the usher brought Jacques and her parents to the third row, center and Jacques realized they would be on camera the entire time and immediately had a panic attack.

"I asked for us to be moved, and we were," says Jacques. "I can't believe after all that time, I had a panic attack, but anyone who has anxiety knows that's exactly how it works."

After everyone is seated, a producer comes out and revs up the crowd, followed, eventually, by the host, comedian Drew Carey. "Everyone went wild," says Jacques.

Because the show was going to air on April 20, known as the fictitious pothead holiday "4/20," Carey made a bunch of weed jokes before launching into hosting the show.

In the end, only nine out of 300 people get called to contestants’ row and neither Jacques, nor her parents, were in the lucky several. However, the woman who was in line directly in front of Jacques was picked, and another contestant that day set a game record by winning $31,500 from the classic game Plinko.

Jacques says every time the announcer called someone to "come on down," she was both relieved and disappointed it wasn’t her name.

"Overall, I was happy that I wasn’t, because I was having a panic attack," says Jacques. "But now I know that next time I will be in the right mindset and know what to expect and therefor will be more ready for it."

During the show, Jacques witnessed contestants win a set of scooters, a large sailboat and a few cars. Most interestingly, perhaps, was the great care the stage people took in delivering the Big Wheel, which was covered in velvet and transported like it was a puppy on a pillow. She was also surprised by the number of retakes, which happened when a cash register malfunctioned during one of the games and when someone in contestants' row got so angry his bid didn’t win that he swore.

Although Jacques didn’t get to spin the wheel or play her favorite game of Cliffhanger, she is thrilled to have had the experience and committed to going back someday.

"It was f-cking amazing, one of the highlights of my life," she says. "At first I thought, 'I am never doing that again because it took so long,' but now I know that of course I will."

"The Price Is Right" airs weekdays in Milwaukee from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on CBS.