Ellen DeGeneres asked Bill Gates to guess prices of everyday groceries and it didn't go well

It's been a long time since he has gone grocery shopping

Chelsea Ritschel
in New York
Wednesday 21 February 2018 22:13 GMT
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Bill Gates was asked to guess how much everyday food items cost

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Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates joined Ellen DeGeneres on her show and was challenged to guess the price of everyday groceries - and it didn't go well.

The rules of the game were simple; if Gates could guess how much three out of five grocery items cost, within a dollar of the actual price, he and the audience would win.

But admitting the last time he was at a supermarket was a “long time ago,” it quickly became clear Gates would have a hard time with the game when his first guess was wrong.

Guessing $5 for a box of Rice-A-Roni, Gates, who is worth $91.7bn, seemed shocked to discover that the box actually costs just $1.

“I’ll take five,” he exclaimed.

Although he was impressed by the bargain prices, the man who regularly vies with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Zara founder Amancio Ortega for the title of richest man in the world doesn't need to worry about money. One website once worked out that it wouldn't even be worth his time to pick up a dropped $100 bill - as he makes $114 every second from the interest on his fortune alone.

Next up were Tide pods - and if you ever wondered whether Gates does his own laundry, he doesn’t.

The billionaire had a hard time guessing the price of groceries (Ellen)
The billionaire had a hard time guessing the price of groceries (Ellen)

Guessing just $4, to the laughter of everyone in the studio, Gates was still pretty far off with his final guess of $10.

Tide pods actually cost $19.97.

With just three chances to redeem himself, Gates accurately guessed the price of one item himself - floss.

But it looks like Gates never had the chance to enjoy late pizza rolls before he dropped out of Harvard after just two years - as he mistakenly guessed the price to be $22.

“No, no, $15,” he tried to amend his answer - before eventually turning to the audience for help.

Overall, the billionaire seemed endearingly surprised to discover the actual prices of food and still managed to win the game for the audience, with help from audience members for the last two items.

We are just grateful pizza rolls don’t actually cost $22.

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