Bill Gates Doesn’t Know How Much Groceries Really Cost

Do really, really rich people compare prices at Trader Joe’s and Costco like us plebeians? Do they know where to buy the cheapest bananas, or that Costco has four-and-a-half-pound tubs of knockoff Nutella for under $8? To no one’s surprise, the answer is probably no. Or at least that’s the case when it comes to Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates.

This Wednesday Gates appeared as a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show where the host asked him to guess the cost of common items you’d find at the grocery store. “When’s the last time you have been at a supermarket?” Ellen asked Gates before they got started with the game. “A long time ago,” he responded.

In the clip above, you can see that Ellen walked Gates through five different things you’d find at a supermarket and asked him to guess the price of each. If he was within a dollar of the actual price, Ellen said the audience would win a prize. Three of the items were food-related, and two of them were common household items (Tide pods and dental floss). The only thing Gates came close to guessing accurately was the floss, which he said was $4 (and it was $3.78).

When it came to guessing the food items, however, Gates needed a lot of help from the audience. He guessed that Rice-A-Roni costs $5, that Totino’s Pizza Rolls are an astounding $22, and TGIFriday’s Spinach Dip is $10.

I don’t know what kind of world Bill Gates lives in that Totino’s Pizza Rolls would be over $20, but I’d like to go there. Maybe in Seattle there’s a secret stash of pizza rolls for the elite that come with a side of caviar dip? Or maybe the rolls are made to order from a special chef that comes to your home and just one of them costs $22? Gates, take me with you.