5 Things About Drew Carey You Didn't Know

He took over long-time host Bob Barker’s spot on “The Price is Right” in 2007. A veteran of the U.S. Marines, Carey has undergone noticeable changes, especially after shedding some 80 pounds a few years ago to stay healthy and lively.

Alert: Assess Your Risk of a Heart Attack in Minutes – Click Here Now

Here are five other things you didn’t know about Drew Carey:

1. He’s a professional photographer — He takes photos as side work under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge, according to Fox News. He didn’t want to use his real name so people wouldn’t just buy the pictures because of his celebrity. Parkenridge was a street name near where he grew up in Cleveland. He likes doing sports shoots, especially soccer, and has taken photos for the World Cup.

2. He’s a practicing Buddhist — He admitted it's a little strange being a Buddhist and hosting “The Price Is Right,” a game show that offers prizes, because the religion teaches to avoid attachments with possessions. He belonged to the Pentecostal church as a teenager, he once told Us Weekly, and now has a Buddhist shrine.

Vote Now: What Do You Think of President Donald Trump's Job Performance?

3. He was academically challenged — Carey said his first grade-point average in college was 0.5. “That’s half a D,” he remarked in Us Weekly. Although some sources say he graduated from Kent State University, he said he was academically dismissed, later receiving an honorary degree from the university.

4. He doesn’t really need glasses — The actor's specs have been popular since he started his career on his sitcom and then with “The Price Is Right,” but he hasn’t needed glasses since he had Lasik surgery to improve his vision. He still needs reading glasses and uses bifocals to read prices on his game show, CBS reported.

5. He's an active libertarian — As a longtime reader of Reason magazine, Carey helped launch Reason.tv, the libertarian magazine’s online video companion, which he helped build by contributing his celebrity and content. Carey has been on the Reason Foundation’s board of trustees for nearly a decade and hosted a fundraiser for Gary Johnson in the run-up to last year’s presidential election.

Simple Quiz: Your Tiny Thyroid Linked to Heart, Obesity, 59 Diseases

• 5 Things About Ben Stein You Didn’t Know
• 6 Jerry Lewis Facts You Didn’t Know