I attended the first Price is Right taping yesterday with a number of fans from this forum and Golden-Road. While I won't spoil gameplay, here are some details about what the audience processing procedure is like now, courtesy of G-R user gamesurf:
Nearly everything takes place at a Korean church next door to the studio lot. You only actually step onto the studio lot for the last part of the process. All the steps from previous Drew tapings are there sans COVID requirements which have been lifted.
First line queues outside the church. You're handed paperwork and are told to fill it out. You are assigned a number here. They began processing at 7AM even though call time was 8.You enter the church, wait in a hallway. Pull out your identification, and get your name tag. Go up the stairs, get your photo taken. Turn in your paperwork. Affirm that you are eligible (or get an X on your number).Enter a giant Sunday School room with 150-200 chairs set up. You will be broken into groups of 6-12. You'll be taken to the side in a holding area, waiting for your interview with Hannah. Enter a small private room with your group of 6-10 with Hannah. She'll go through all the people in your group and talk to them, with her assistant cryptically taking notes the whole time. This means other groups can't listen in on interviews. Go back and sit down in the group of 150 chairs, staying in numerical order (or as close as reasonable). There are chips and soda and coffee provided on a table nearby. No hot meals though. These were free but depleted quickly. Wonder if they have plans for something bigger and better in the future. Also, this room was kept VERY cold. Sit and wait until everybody has been processed and interviewed. Page takes you out into the hallway again, and the photo station has been converted to a phone check station. Leave your phone, get a ticket number. Led outdoors behind the church to an outdoor area 150 or 200 yards outside, shade tents covering about half of the line, for everybody else to finish the phone check. There are outdoor bathrooms; this is your last chance before showtime .Led through a door in the fence onto the studio lot, into the studio, down the hall, and into the studio.
Also from gamesurf, here's an artist's rendition of Contestants' Row:
Of note are the monitors below and flanking the bid displays (which show the same blue background the turntable screens do), and a lack of stairs. Instead of walking up from an audience pit, they now simply walk around the half-walls on the side and onto the stage.
Also, despite the drawings perspective the audience is not on bleachers like the Italian or other foreign versions. Instead there's a multiplex-style stadium seating arrangement with approximately 170 seats by our count. People who had been to 33 commented that there is far more leg room than in the past.
Overall, it was an amazing experience and I look forward to returning on Monday and Tuesday. If anyone has other non-gameplay-related questions about the new season, feel free to ask.
