Katrina Hines enjoyed a special treatduring her fall break from her job as school principal of KennedyElementary in McComb.

    The Brookhaven resident got to watch the episode of the “Price IsRight” she was on as it aired on national television Wednesdaymorning.

    Hines said she did not have a special gathering of friends orfamily to watch the show. Instead she enjoyed it with her husbandRonald, who added his own special touch to make the day that muchmore special.

    “He decorated the house and the living room with balloons andposter board signs,” she said. “They said things like ‘Come ondown!’ and ‘Hines got the price right!’ He also brought mebreakfast that morning. He was like, ‘This is your day.’ He reallytreated me like a queen.”

    Hines’ name was the third one called during the show last June,when the family attended a taping while in California for son LaRonto attend an acting camp.

    She outbid her counterparts on a diamond necklace, valued at$1,600, by submitting her guess of $1,100.

    “I got the closest,” she recalled. “Most of the others went overthe price, but I’m a good shopper.”

    Once on stage with host Drew Carey, Hines played the game called”Pathfinder.” The prize for winning the game: a new truck.

    To play the game, Hines had to stand on a numbered floor ofsquares, with each square housing a different number. Given thefirst number, Hines had to step either left, right, forward orbackward to the number she thought would be the next digit in theprice of the vehicle.

    While onstage playing the show’s games, many contestants look tothe audience for help as they scream their guesses and try toinfluence the players’ decision.

    “My focus was on my husband,” Hines said. “I was looking at him forreassurance and confirmation from him.”

    Hines guessed wrong twice during “Pathfinder,” but the game’s rulesallow her to guess the right price of a smaller prize each time shemisses to remain in the game. She guessed the value of an iPod anda microwave correctly.

    She ended up getting the correct numbers for the price of thevehicle, a 2011 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck.

    “I’m going to let my husband have the truck,” she said. “So he’sexcited about that. He told me the first thing he thought when Iwon it was, ‘I know I’m going to be the one that has to drive thattruck all the way back home from California.’ But we actuallydidn’t take the one from the show home.”

    Hines explained she was not allowed to receive the truck untilafter the show aired. Now that it has, she expects to be able topick one up at a local dealership soon.

    Later in the show, Hines got a chance to spin the famous wheel thatdetermines the top two contestants for the “Showcase Showdown” inthe show’s finale.

    Hines spun $1.00 on her first spin, which yielded her $1,000 and aspot in the showcase.

    She lost the showcase, but still got to leave with the new truck, adiamond necklace, an iPod, microwave and $1,000.

    “I wasn’t familiar with the type of car in the showcase,” she said.”If it had been any other car, I think I would’ve won.”

    She said although no one else watched with her besides her husband,that doesn’t mean she didn’t hear from any of her friends orfamily.

    “Have I had any calls? Yes. Calls galore,” she said. “I had callsfrom the very beginning of the show, from people far and near,friends, family and co-workers. There were quite a few people whodidn’t know at all that I was going to be on. They were calling toconfirm what they thought they were seeing.”