Drew Carey Jokes He Has 'Thoughts of Dying on Stage' Hosting Price Is Right: 'I Never Want to Leave' (Exclusive)

Drew Carey says you'll have to pry his gig hosting The Price Is Right from his cold dead hands.

While speaking exclusively with PEOPLE at CBS' fall schedule celebration on May 2, the longstanding game show host revealed he had no plans of retiring from his post — in fact, Carey said he's planning on performing his role to his grave.

"Thoughts of dying on stage with a microphone in my hand have gone through my mind," he laughed. "I never want to leave. I'm having such a good time there. Everybody treats me great and the cast is great and the production office is great."

"I really feel supported and loved there and wanted," Carey continues. "When you're 65 and in the entertainment business, you don't really get that that often. I'm in a pretty rare situation so I wanna keep that going as long as I can."

In 2007, Carey took over hosting the beloved show from Bob Barker. Since then, he's made the show his own with a new set, logo and theme music while cementing his place in game show history.

Despite the way he's naturally fallen into the role over the years, in March, Carey told PEOPLE that he initially turned down becoming the new host of The Price Is Right.

“I said, f--- no,” the comedian recalled at the time. “I just wanted to be able to do things that were fun and interesting instead of having a 'job-job' or something I had to do every day, because I just had, after being on The Drew Carey Show and everything, I was done with the idea of just being on a show forever.”

Carey revealed that he quickly changed his mind after realizing his dreams of buying a Major League Soccer team — or, at least becoming a part-owner of one.

“I knew how much money it was going to take for that to happen,” he explained. “Then one of the show’s producers asked me what my favorite thing to do was. I go, ‘I love leaving big tips when I go to restaurants.’ ‘Well, if you work on The Price Is Right, you’ll be able to do that all the time for a living,’ they said. ‘Just give out things.’ That was the light bulb that went off in my head.”

“I could just make a living giving prizes to people and being around happy people all day,” Carey continued. “I met [my agent] at a steakhouse. … And I go, 'I think I want to be the host of The Price is Right.' He shook my hand and goes, ‘Well, there’s your soccer money.’”

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The Price Is Right airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on CBS.