The price was right, but the prize was wrong.

Shelby McDaniel, a 2009 graduate of South Whidbey High School, recently appeared on “The Price Is Right.”

It was an unexpected appearance on daytime television’s iconic game show, once called the “greatest game show of all time” by TV Guide.

This past summer, the 20-year-old from Langley went south to the Los Angeles, Calif. area to work as a counselor at the Canyon Creek Sports Camp. A group of fellow counselors asked McDaniel if she wanted to join them for a TV-land adventure.

Before she knew it, the non-dramatic McDaniel found herself at the Bob Barker Studio at CBS Television City in Hollywood in a mandatory, pre-show interview with one of the producers of the show.

“You get there at noon and wait in a line while they interview about 300 people,” McDaniel said.

She and her fellow camp friends were all wearing red Canyon Creek Sports Camp T-shirts. The interviews are done in groups of 12 with the longest conversation lasting about two minutes.

“My interview was, by far, the shortest in my entire group,” she said.

“They asked me if I was a student.”

She told them she was an exercise science and nutrition major at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.

“They asked me what I had for breakfast and I told them I had oatmeal and a banana. That was it. The whole interview lasted about 30 seconds,” she added.

Nine contestants are chosen before the show is taped, unbeknownst to the members of the audience. It was a surprise to McDaniel, too.

“I didn’t actually realize we had to go through the audition process, and would never want to be onstage or anything,” McDaniel said.

She was pretty confident after such a short interview that she wouldn’t be picked, so after finally getting into the theater at 4 p.m. and finally sitting down to watch the show, McDaniel was ready to just have some fun.

The atmosphere was upbeat and loud, McDaniel said, and there was a team of people who joke with the audience during the show, mainly between takes.

Inside the studio there are three cameras, the producers, an announcer, models who showcase the prizes, cue card holders, rule explainers and, of course, the star of the show, host Drew Carey.

“He’s joking around the whole time, picking different people at random and joking around. And everyone gets very excited.”

It was after about the fourth or fifth contestant, McDaniel heard her name and the show’s signature catchphrase, “Come on down!”

“I just froze to death and my friends were all jumping and screaming,” she remembered.

McDaniel was asked to guess the price of a meat smoker, and she won.

The prize was a little too meaty for her taste, however. She’s a vegetarian.

McDaniel said she plans on giving the smoker to her dad for Christmas. (No surprise, he already knows.)

She didn’t fare as well when it came time to guess the price of a Vespa scooter.

“I was shocked, nervous and terrified the whole time,” McDaniel said.

Her final challenge was “The Big Wheel,” where contestants try to land on the dollar slot in a three-way spin-off and advance to the Showcase Showdown.

“The first time I spun I actually landed on the five, which is right before the $1.”

“Then I spun again and ended on 70 (cents). The woman after me ended lower than me, and then the third girl beat me by 10 cents. That’s when I was done,” she said.

In the Showcase Showdown, the winner took home the promise of a trip to Atlantic City, N.J. The episode aired Oct. 12 on CBS.

Looking back on it, McDaniel said that although she had stage fright, it was worth it and that Carey was simply super.

“He’s really nice. He shook my hand and talked with me and with the audience and would make jokes. It was a really fun experience.”