LITH man scores prizes on “Let's Make a Deal”

Clad in a white chef's hat and an “obnoxious” fake black mustache, Judson Chapman of Lake in the Hills scored a game-room prize package on “Let's Make a Deal” worth nearly $5,400.

The show aired Friday morning. The package included a 40-inch LCD TV, a billiard table that converts into a poker or dinner table, a jukebox that hooks up to an iPod Nano, an iPod Nano, $800 in iTunes credit.

And a kegerator.

“When I won, the only thing I really saw was the kegerator,” Chapman said Friday of the fridge with a beer tap. “I've wanted one of those things for years.”

When it came to trading in that prize package for the unknown “big deal of the day,” Chapman decided to stick with what he already had.

The “big deal of the day” turned out to be a luxury trip to Cabo San Lucas and a Kia Forte.

“I couldn't really remember was there a chance of getting a zonk with that, but I was perfectly happy with what I had,” Chapman said.

Chapman works as a web content editor for Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, out of its Hoffman Estates headquarters, and used the Swedish chef from the “Muppet Show” as inspiration for his costume.

Chapman and his wife, Marieta, happened to be on vacation in California in May, when they came down with a horrible case of food poisoning.

So instead of sightseeing in Los Angeles, they spent the day surfing the Internet for live television tapings they could attend once they felt better.

Chapman, 35, has fond memories of watching the original “Let's Make a Deal” and suspects his enthusiasm and energy won producers over in terms of appearing on the show.

Within the next three months, Chapman will receive his game room prize package.

Host Wayne Brady said it best when he dubbed Chapman “Chef boy are you lucky.”