Best. Birthday. Ever. Clovis boy celebrates 10th birthday as a game show contestant

As birthdays go, his most recent ranks high for Travis Petrie, maybe close to best-ever territory.

“I don’t know if I’ll have a better birthday,” says the Clovis Elementary School student, who turned 10 in November and spent the day as a contestant on the CBS game show “The Price Is Right.”

He can’t say if he won big, because the episode won’t air until Tuesday, but just recalling the day, the excitement in his voice is real.

“I knew I had to be excited for the show,” he says.

“But, also, I was just excited.”

Travis’ mother, Tena Petrie, has a thing for game shows. She has been a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune” and had been in the “Price is Right” audience before. She watched the show with her mother as a child, and now watches it with Travis and thought taking him to a taping would be a great birthday surprise.

That fact that on they day they went producers were taping for the show’s Kids Week, and the elementary school episode specifically, was just a bonus.

Tena knew the protocol for becoming a contestant: the hours waiting in line while they verify tickets (the only boring part of the day, Travis says) and the quick pitch you get with producers.

“You only have about five seconds to sell yourself,” Tena says.

She played up the birthday angle and it worked.

Yes, it’s been hard to keep quiet about the show all these months, Travis says. It’s also been hard knowing the show will air while his school is closed and his family is practicing social distancing. He had planned to ask his teacher at Clovis Elementary if he could bring a TV so the class could watch it together. The family had a big watch party planned.

Now, they’ll have a Zoom watch party instead, Travis says, and both his grandparents will be recording the show, “so we can save it and watch it whenever we want.”

When to watch

“Price is Right” Kids Week, 10 a.m. Tuesday on CBS.