The Spin on Savage: Game shows, tie-dye fill Realtor’s free time

By HOLLY IVY DE VORE
REAL ESTATE WRITER

Clad in a tie-dyed T-shirt emblazoned with red and yellow, Scot Savage, a realty agent at Realty 500 Reiss Corp. in Las Vegas and an avid game show enthusiast, handed out colorful hand-dyed shirts to his group of contestant-hopefuls prior to a recent taping of “The Price Is Right” in Los Angeles.

With a personality as bright as his shirt, the 10-year veteran agent has brought more than 20 groups made up of clients and Bob Barker enthusiasts to tapings of his favorite game show. For the mere cost of a shirt, Showcase Showdown wannabees can join the 20- to 25-member group at CBS Studios and sport myriad colors on national television.

“I organize the trips because it’s fun. `The Price Is Right’ has been my favorite show for years; it’s been on for 30 years and all of my friends in their early 30s and 20s don’t know what life is like without Bob Barker,” said 37-year-old Savage, who plans to make another trip to his beloved show in September.

Arriving at the television studio at 10 a.m. for the 2:30 p.m. taping in June, group members had high hopes of being among the nine lucky contestants picked from the more than 300 people in the audience.

“I’ve dreamt that I would win a dinette set, and I’d also love to win a fabulous trip to Hawaii,” said Henderson resident Shawn Zangler, who has made the trip many times.

James Patterson of Anaheim, Calif., was there with his sister and two brothers. His sights were set higher.

“I’d love to be selected for the show and be in Contestant’s Row. I’d like to then be called up to preferably play the Plinko game and win the maximum $50,000. Then it would be great to spin 100 twice on the big wheel, winning another $11,000, and then win the Showcase Showdown. I’m not a greedy person, I’d just really like to win six figures,” Patterson said.

Las Vegan Connie Wickham, who has attended more than 10 tapings of the show, theorized about the type of contestants sought by the show’s producers.

“Every time I come here, I have a strategy as to the type of person they are going to pick for the show. At one show, it seems like they pick women with their hair pulled back, makeup put on perfectly and their shirts tucked in, but then that theory is proven wrong the next time when they pick people with messy hair and their shirts pulled out. Another time I noticed that they picked people with flip-flop sandals, so I wear them the next time and people without sandals are selected. I guess I really have no idea how they select people,” she said.

While a producer and an assistant gave the potential contestants the once-over, the audience sat down in the small studio, smiled for the cameras, cheered enthusiastically for those selected, and hoped their names would be called. The fact that no one from Savage’s group was chosen that day in June did not lessen the excitement.

Savage always hopes his companions feel the same exuberance that he felt in 1999 when Barker’s sidekick, Rod Roddy, invited Savage to “Come on down.”

“Being on stage with Bob Barker … was a dream of mine come true. I actually had a dream about it happening right before I took a group to the show. I dreamt that I would be the first one called on down and that I would get on stage and I did. I won a $1,710 men’s watch, which I kept, and a $6,000 dining room set with dishes that I gave to my mother,” he said.

“In my dream, I made it on the Showcase and won $43,000 in prizes, but that didn’t come true. But with the next group of folks that I took to `The Price Is Right,’ my neighbor, Brenda, did make it to the Showcase Showdown, and she won $43,000 worth of prizes, including two cars and she gave me one, which I now call `Bob.’”

Savage experienced the same excitement while hamming it up for the cameras last April as a contestant on the “Weakest Link” trivia game show. Wearing a green and yellow shirt (tie-dyed of course), he did not win the coveted $1 million prize, but he did enjoy his 15 minutes of fame.

“We only had a basic idea of what the `Weakest Link’ would be like before it was taped because none had been broadcasted yet … We didn’t know that the show’s host, Anne Robinson, would yell at the contestants and criticize them until the game actually began, and then she yelled at me first,” Savage said.

“Going into the show, I decided that I would act like a stupid guy from Las Vegas who owned a tie-dye shirt company. We (the contestants) spent 24 hours together before the show taped, and I tried to become friends with everybody, gave them all T-shirts and tried not to seem like a threat. When the show was being taped, I started answering some pretty tough questions and they knew that they underestimated me and that I definitely wasn’t stupid. I made it to the final four. The contestants didn’t learn that I was a real estate agent until afterward. I think that I put on a good act.”

Savage believes his go-getter attitude has had an influence on his being selected as a game show contestant as well as on his real estate career.

“I think that I have proven through the game shows that I am a determined individual. I put forth the effort and was selected for `The Price Is Right’ after telling everyone waiting in line (for the show) that day that I would be chosen. I was determined when I tried out for `Weakest Link’ and they chose me. And usually after meeting me, prospective real estate clients choose me to represent them,” he said.

“If I were a home buyer or seller, I’d want my real estate agent to be determined and to stick their neck out for me, like I’ve done with these game shows. Besides, there aren’t many real estate agents out there who will take their clients to `The Price Is Right.’”

Savage has also reached out to area children through his Safe Streets Trick or Treat program.

“I started Safe Streets nine years ago for my nephews in the Paradise Vista neighborhood in the southeast valley. There was really no place for them to go for Halloween one year, and I had heard of some builders doing this type of thing and handing out candy in their model homes. I figured if builders could do it in a model home, I could organize it in my nephews’ neighborhood and provided the candy,” Savage said.

“Kids can go out on Halloween and get candy that is untainted. Parents have driven across the valley to Safe Streets to ensure that their kids have a safe trick-or-treating experience … About 1,000 people participated the first year, and it has grown from six homes to 45 homes,” he said.

“Hopefully, I will get some sponsors this year to donate candy so we can increase it from 2,000 to 2,500 pieces for each house. We will also be asking hotels to donate security to help patrol the event.”

Savage hopes the annual event is a positive experience for everyone involved.

“I hope that Safe Streets will teach my nephews and niece the value of giving back to the community. I hope it will also teach them that contributing feels as good as being on the taking end of it,” he said.

“I go to bed happy at night about the work that I’m doing. I believe that there is karma; if I keep helping people and making them happy, then good things will happen to me.”

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