Monday, Aug. 30, 2010

Pastor and wife make quite a 'Deal'

Rev. Melvin and Lucy Whittle take a 9-day trip to New England courtesy of a CBS game show

As the pastor of First Baptist Church of Los Banos and his wife sat eating lobster tail in Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, Mass., they were happy they didn't choose the purse.

The Rev. Melvin and Lucy Whittle returned last month from an $8,000 vacation they won as contestants on CBS' "Let's Make a Deal."

Originally hosted by Monty Hall, a new version of the show began airing in October 2009. It's hosted by Wayne Brady, formerly of "Whose Line is It Anyway."

"We never thought we would be picked [as contestants]," Melvin said.

Lucy said the interview process was an ordeal.

"You have to go through this line forever," Lucy said. "You fill out all these papers in certain sections of the line, and then they send you to the back to be interviewed by the producers."

Contestants, who dress in costume, are picked randomly from the audience and are offered a prize they can see -- $100 cash inside of a wallet, for instance. They can choose to keep that prize or trade it in for an unseen one under a box or behind a curtain. The unseen prize could be better, such as a new car, or worse, such as a giant blow dryer that signals you've lost.

The Whittles said they were just happy to be picked to be contestants.

"[The host] says, 'I'm looking for a couple,' ' Lucy said in describing Wayne Brady's entrance during the taping.

"He turns and he looks down our way, and I'm up out of the seat going, 'Me, me, me, me, me.' "

The Whittles competed as a couple. First, Melvin passed on $200 inside of a "murse," a man's purse, and came away with a prize package of $1,700 containing athletic wear, an Apple iPhone and an Apple iPod.

Lucy, who dressed as "queen of the kitchen" while Melvin was "the dream chef," opted for an unseen prize under a box instead of the $1,200 inside of a purse she was offered. Under that box was a trip, worth $8,000, to New England.

The nine-day vacation took the Whittles to high-end destinations in Boston; New Bedford, Mass.; Nantucket, Mass.; Providence, R.I.; and Newport, R.I. The game show paid for their accommodations, travel, tours and most meals.

"We ate lobster every night," Melvin said.

The Whittles said they would not have been able to afford a trip like this under normal circumstances. The dinners themselves were hundreds of dollars each, the most expensive tab being $422, according to Lucy.

The Whittles said they toured historical sites, museums and went whale watching.

"A trip worth $8,000," Melvin said. "And, it was worth every penny."

To which Lucy replied, "Oh, God, yes."

Enterprise staff writer Thaddeus Miller can be reached at 388-6562 or by e-mail at

tmiller@losbanosenterprise.com.