Grabbing coupons, making days-long road trips and drinking blended omelets could all potentially earn Dixie State College and one of its students a big chunk of cash.
Brandon Price, a senior communication major from Brigham City, sent in an audition video to Zions Bank’s “Cheapster,” a Web series dedicated to educating college students on managing money, and he was chosen to represent DSC. Price joined contestants from more than a dozen colleges across Utah in a competition to see who was the best at being cheap.
The student who gets through all the challenges, and elicits the most votes on the final video challenge, gets to walk away with $20,000 to be split evenly between the winner and his or her college.
“The selection process at the beginning was kind of quick, but it worked out,” Price said. “I submitted the first video [about] how I thought I was the ultimate cheapster. They called me a week and a half later and said that I was going to be representing Dixie.”
Price had to make a trip to Salt Lake City in order to film the Web series, which is now in its second season. The filming took place in one day, and Price said that added to the strenuousness of the challenges.
“Last year they filmed episodes every other week instead of filming them all in one day,” he said. “[The challenges] were filmed on the Tuesday after fall break. I came home from my vacation on Sunday night, went to class on Monday, as soon as class was over I drove to Salt Lake in the evening, spent the night and then spent the day Tuesday (filming), and drove back here Tuesday night so I could be to class on Wednesday.”
All episodes of the series can be viewed on CheapsterTV.com.
Of all the challenges Price took part in, there was one that left a bad taste in his mouth—literally.
“Drinking the smoothie,” he said about the second episode.
The contestants had to guess the price of ingredients for an inexpensive homemade meal, and the student who was farthest away from the correct price had to drink a blended version of the meal. Price happened to guess the incorrect amount for a ham, egg and cheese omelet.
“[It] was just wretched,” he said. “The video, when you see it, proves that I had a hard time stomaching it. They put this omelet into the blender. It was in the fridge all morning. The cheese and the ham just became this gritty paste. It was disgusting. I tried plugging my nose at first, but that just made it worse. Once the taste hit, I almost lost it. I almost threw it all up.”
Although Price was responsible for getting through the challenges, it’s up to his fellow students to make him a winner.
Elizabeth Neff, Zions Bank public relations officer, is urging DSC to tune in and help Price out.
“The final phase of ‘Cheapster’ will involve a surprise challenge for each of the remaining 10 contestants,” Neff wrote in a statement to Dixie Sun News. “[DSC students] will help determine which of the finalists will walk away with cash for [him or herself] and their school through online voting Nov. 5-11.”
Voting and updates will take place through the “Cheapster” Facebook page at Facebook.com/CheapsterTV, and students can vote once each day.
Price said he’s up against some tough competition, but he thinks DSC can win the $10,000 if the students vote for him this week.
