Bob Barker managed to charm millions of viewers on one of America's favorite game shows The Price Is Right.
But behind the cameras, he controlled the employees with a “ruthless iron fist” and allowed racism, secret affairs, and workplace cruelty to run rampant.
“I hate that man,” said Holly Hallstrom, one of the models who worked on the show. He was a “shameless, self-promoting liar,” she added.
Highlights
- Bob Barker allegedly created a hostile work environment, where he controlled employees “with an absolutely ruthless iron fist.”
- Multiple models shared instances of being touched inappropriately by their male co-workers on set.
- If they complained, Bob allegedly told them to “get over it or look for a new job.”
- Bob cheated on his girlfriend with someone on the show, leading to a string of controversies.
Bob Barker managed to charm millions of viewers on one of America's favorite TV game shows The Price Is Right
Image credits: Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Former members of The Price Is Right have shared how the long-running show was not just about spinning the wheel, guessing prices, and winning.
The show’s “Barker's Beauties,” who were seen as glamorous on-screen assistants, said they faced harassment behind the scenes.
One of them hit a man in his privates with a golf club because of his inappropriate behavior.
Image credits: M. Tran/FilmMagic
After joining the show in 1990 as the “first permanent Black model,” Kathleen Bradley became part of the “Barker's Beauties” group.
She said one male crew member was “too friendly” with the female models that he would “rub up” against them, she said in an episode of the E!'s docuseries, Dirty Rotten Scandals.
Despite reporting the man to the producers, Kathleen said no action was taken. “I was really taken aback. This was really s*xual harassment,” she said.
One male crew member was “too friendly” with the female models that he would “rub up” against them
Image credits: Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Kathleen recalled one show-taping incident where she deliberately swung a golf club at a man’s privates.
“I accidentally hit him right in the groin. Accidentally on purpose that was,” she said. “We were so exhausted and tired of the treatment. You just had to do what you had to do.”
The show’s former producer Barbara Hunter said there were instances where she said, “Hey, stop that,” to predatory men.
“One time I was in the elevator, and one of the men just stuck their hands right on my b**bs,” she said in the series.
Barbara recalled pushing the man away and not saying a word, adding that it simply became “instinct to know how to handle it.”
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In order to appease the women on set, CBS came up with a band-aid solution to a gaping wound: the 10-second rule.
Male crew members were not allowed to openly stare at the models for more than 10 seconds.
But “no one was monitoring how long the guys were staring at the models,” said Holly Hallstorm, another member who was part of “Barker's Beauties” from 1977 to 1995.
Holly said women who went to Bob with their complaints were told by the host to “get over it or look for a new job.”
Bob's affair with Dian Parkinson became so open that his girlfriend allegedly phoned up one of the models to talk about it
Also covered in the docuseries was Bob’s not-so-secret affair with model Dian Parkinson. Kathleen said Dian confided in her about their affair, and they knew Bob had a girlfriend at the time.
“As time went on, people were noticing…” Kathleen said, claiming that crew members and even viewers at home were noticing how “close [they] were hugging and looking at each other, playing around and all of that.”
She claimed Dian would spend her breaks in Bob’s room, and “that's when some hanky panky was going on."
Image credits: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Holly also mentioned how the affair didn’t stay private, and everyone knew Bob was cheating on his girlfriend.
She narrated a phone call she received from the girlfriend, who dropped her own bombshell about Bob's alleged racism.
“[The girlfriend] said, ‘Oh my gosh, Bob has no idea that he's had s*x with a woman who has had s*x with Black men. Bob has always said that Black men are the most diseased people on Earth,” she said.
Other instances of racism were also prevalent, Kathleen said. She mentioned that fans would write negative things about her “being on the show as a Black model.”
“[It was] just not a good feeling... And one of the members of the production team brought to my attention that, inside a production meeting, when models weren't in there, they would use the N word,” she said.
Black models on the show spoke about incidents of racism on the E! docuseries
Image credits: David Keeler/Getty Images
Fellow model Claudia Jordan said she, too, experienced racism and spoke about an incident in the docuseries.
“Other comments that [producer Phil Wayne] would make carried on that old spirit of racism, [such as] ‘Let's make a reverse Oreo, Claudia, you get in the middle of the two white models,’” she said.
“He would also “tell me I'm the a** model because stereotypically, Black women have a larger behind,” she continued. “And I guess that's why he wanted to grab and feel it.”
After Dian had a massive fallout with Bob, her departure from the show led to a string of other issues.
She agreed to pose for Playboy since she wasn't with Bob anymore. But it “did not go over well” with him, Kathleen said.
She claimed Dian wasn’t happy and was very bitter about how things ended for her on The Price Is Right.
“She wanted to get back at him... She said, ‘He was s*xually harassing me and forcing me to do things to him in the dressing room, where I didn't want to do it. And I'm going to get my attorney, I'm going to file a s*xual harassment lawsuit against them,” she said.
Dian filed a lawsuit against Bob, but it was eventually dropped.
Holly Hallstrom spoke about how Bob had her fired following the Dian scandal
Image credits: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
The environment on set also changed after Dian left the show, with Holly saying they were expected to sit with lawyers in the studio and say “bad stuff about Dian and how Bob could not have possibly s*xually harassed Dian.”
Holly said she wanted nothing to do with the fiasco and refused to give a deposition when asked to. “I didn't want to commit felony perjury, which is exactly what it would have been if I gave a testimony,” she said.
Holly believes this ultimately led to her being thrown out of the show, with her weight being used as an excuse.
“They couldn't use the ‘Well, she refused to lie for me’ excuse to get rid of me, so they said it was because of my weight. That's when I knew I was being set up,” she said.
Despite losing some weight, the model was told it wasn’t enough and was asked to take an early retirement. That was the first time she felt, “I hate that man,” Holly told People in an interview published this week.
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On the E! docuseries, Holly said she refused to retire because there was no reason too. But Bob “wanted [her] gone,” which led to her being fired.
Years later, she shared her side of the story on the tabloid show Hard Copy, which led to Bob suing her for defamation.
“After that, no one spoke to me. No one returned my calls... And now, I am so alone, God, so alone, and going through the court process by myself,” she said, calling it the “worst thing in my whole life.”
Bob eventually dropped the lawsuit days before the trial was scheduled to begin. Holly then sued him for malicious prosecution and was later offered a settlement. But she turned it down because it included signing a non-disclosure agreement to stop her from publicly speaking about the show.
“I knew that I was not going to sign an NDA because he is a liar. He is a shameless, self-promoting liar. I was fired,” she said.
“I lost everything. I was totally broke and living out of my car,” one of the models said
Holly said she sold off her house and used up her savings for the lawsuit because she wanted to fight hard to win.
“I lost everything. I was totally broke and living out of my car,” she continued. “I would just stay with friends and family because at the moment, I couldn't afford to stay in this lawsuit and I would have to settle, and I was not going to do that.” She eventually received a monetary settlement.
The talk show host passed away in 2023 after the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. His representative Roger Neal addressed the allegations in the docuseries this week.
The talk show host “was and is beloved, and people to this day love him,” the longtime representative told USA TODAY.
“He was part of the fabric of American pop culture. He was the greatest MC in TV history,” he continued. “I was honored to have represented him.”
“Apparently The Price Wasn’t Right,” one commented online
