Watching Ellen DeGeneres interact with her guests is sheer pleasure and seeing billionaire Bill Gates guess grocery prices at her request was no different. She makes awkward situations, like having to play a game where you're way out of your league, comfortable and fun. At the end of her interview with Gates, DeGeneres invited him to play Bill's Grocery Bills and the game was definitely amusing to watch.
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After admitting that the last time he was in a supermarket was "a long time ago," Gates gamely participated in the challenge to guess the cost of five items, all of which were pretty standard for grocery shoppers. If he got at least three of the prices correct, within a dollar, he would win something for the studio audience. Set up like an old-fashioned game show, complete with sweeping harp sound at the wave of a hand, Degeneres introduced each item and then after Gates took his guess, the actual price was revealed.
Gates only got one item right without any help (the floss, of all things), but DeGeneres and the audience offered some assistance to help him guess the prices on the last two items. To be fair, Bill Gates probably doesn't buy a lot of Totino's Pizza Rolls and he lives in an expensive part of the country, so guessing $22 for a bag is funny, but not all that surprising.
He was a good sport, noting that he'd take five boxes of the Rice-A-Roni, since he guessed they were $5 and their actual cost is $1. Gates did seem truly surprised at the cost of Tide Pods (which DeGeneres noted have been in the news a lot lately). And the game turned out great for the audience, whose prize was being invited back to one of the show's 12 Days of Giveaways.
