Barker's Beauties
Encyclopedia
The American television game show The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)
The Price Is Right is an American game show which was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Contestants compete to identify the pricing of merchandise to win cash and prizes. The show is well-known for its signature line of "Come on down!" when the announcer directs newly selected contestants to...

 has, since its 1972 relaunch, had a stable of models
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 to showcase the prizes and items that are given away on the show. From 1972–2007, the group was referred to as Barker
Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...

's Beauties
, a term coined by producer Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...

.

1956–1965

The original Price Is Right also employed models. Usually, two models appeared per episode to model the prizes, much in the same tradition as the later incarnations. As was the case with the Carey-era of the current version, the models were not referred to specifically by a nickname.

June Ferguson and Toni Wallace were the regular models, staying with the program for its entire nine-year run. Various other models either assisted Ferguson and Wallace, or appeared during their absences.

1972–present

Over 25 women have appeared as models on The Price Is Right since the program's premiere. For the first three years, there were two models – Janice Pennington
Janice Pennington
Janice Marie Pennington was one of the original "Barker's Beauties" models on The Price Is Right, serving as the show's longest-running model to date, from 1972 to 2000. She was also Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for the May 1971 issue. She is the older sister of fellow model Ann...

 and Anitra Ford
Anitra Ford
Anitra Ford is an American actress.Ford was born in California. She was a model on The Price Is Right from its beginning in 1972 until the last days of 1976. She was replaced by Holly Hallstrom...

. Dian Parkinson
Dian Parkinson
Dian Parkinson is a former American model and hostess on The Price Is Right.-Career history:...

 joined Pennington and Ford in 1975 after previously appearing periodically as a substitute model.

Ford left the program in 1976 and was later replaced by Holly Hallstrom
Holly Hallstrom
Holly Hallstrom was one of the models on the daytime game show The Price Is Right, from 1977–1995...

 who joined the cast in 1977. Pennington, Parkinson and Hallstrom appeared as the three main models on both the daytime and syndicated versions of the show from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s.

In December 1990, the three were joined by the program's first permanent African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 model, Kathleen Bradley
Kathleen Bradley
Kathleen Bradley is a former model primarily known as a "Barker's Beauty" on the daytime game show The Price Is Right from 1990 to 2000...

. During this period, Kyle Aletter appeared as the substitute model whenever one of the principal models was unable to appear in a given episode.

Parkinson left the show in 1993 "to pursue other interests" as stated by Barker, although speculation among some felt her departure was due to ongoing difficulties with Pennington. The following year, Parkinson filed a litigation suit claiming that Barker had been sexually harassing
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...

 her beginning in the 1980s. Parkinson withdrew the suit in 1995.

Parkinson was replaced by several other women (including Cindy Margolis
Cindy Margolis
Cynthia Dawn "Cindy" Margolis is an American glamour spokesmodel and actress.-Personal life:Margolis was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Karyn O. and William C. Margolis...

) until Gena Lee Nolin
Gena Lee Nolin
Gena Lee Nolin is an American actress and model. She is best known for her television appearances on The Price Is Right and Baywatch in the 1990s.-Career:...

 was hired in 1993. Hallstrom was dismissed from the show in 1995 by Barker on the basis of weight gain (due to prescription medication), although Hallstrom alleged that she was dismissed for her refusal to support Barker in his then-ongoing litigation with Parkinson. Barker sued Hallstrom for slander and libel and Hallstrom countersued
Counterclaim
In civil procedure, a party's claim is a counterclaim if the defending party has previously made a claim against the claiming party.Examples of counterclaims include:...

 Barker for wrongful termination and age, weight and medical discrimination. Eventually, Hallstrom was awarded a multi-million dollar settlement in 2005.

After Hallstrom's termination and Nolin's departure that same year, Chantel Dubay was hired as the third model in 1996. Dubay left the show in 1999 and was replaced by Nikki Ziering.

In 2000, Pennington and Bradley were dismissed from the program in (what was claimed as) an attempt to attract a younger demographic. Their dismissals came after Barker's failed lawsuit against Hallstrom. Both Pennington and Bradley filed for wrongful termination and settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

Pennington and Bradley were replaced by Heather Kozar
Heather Kozar
Heather Kozar is an American model known as Playboy's Playmate of the Month for January 1998. She appeared on the cover of the June 1999 issue of the magazine, and was voted Playmate of the Year for 1999. Her original centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley...

 and Claudia Jordan
Claudia Jordan
Claudia Jordan is an American television and radio personality. She is primarily known for appearing as a model on the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal, and for competing on Season 2 of the Celebrity Apprentice.-Personal life:...

 in 2000. Ziering and Kozar both left the program in 2002. At that time, Jordan became the only "permanent" model and was joined by a rotating cast of additional models.

Jordan's departure came in 2003 after she formally complained about racial discrimination on the set. Jordan filed for wrongful termination and racial discrimination and also received an out of court settlement. After Jordan's dismissal, The Price Is Right no longer featured the same model or group of models on a daily basis. In addition to several models who are more-or-less a permanent part of the cast, new models appear every few weeks who sometimes eventually join the rotation, or other times appear for a single set of tapings. That procedure was changed in late 2008 as contracts expired.

Currently, the show uses four permanent models, two or three of which appear on any given episode – Rachel Reynolds
Rachel Reynolds
Rachel Reynolds is an American model and actress who is currently one of the models on the game show The Price Is Right....

, Amber Lancaster
Amber Lancaster
-Personal life:Lancaster was born in Tacoma, Washington. She attended Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma. In 1998, she won the title of Miss Washington Teen USA. She went on to join the Sea Gals, the cheerleading squad of the Seattle Seahawks football team. Lancaster was a member of the Sea Gals...

, Gwendolyn Osborne Smith, and Manuela Arbeláez
Manuela Arbeláez
Manuela Arbeláez Correa is a Colombian-born, naturalized American model and actress perhaps best known for her work on the television game show The Price Is Right....

.

Drew Carey
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...

 has indicated in an interview with USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

 that he prefers to simply refer to the models by name as opposed to giving them a nickname. In addition, they are now referred as "The Price Is Right Models" when making public appearances with Carey, such as at the 2008 Pepsi 500
2008 Pepsi 500
The 2008 Pepsi 500 was the twenty-fifth race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the next-to-last race to determine the twelve drivers to compete in the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup. The race was held on Sunday night, August 31 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California...

, where Carey was the grand marshal, and the Seattle Sounders FC
Seattle Sounders FC
Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional soccer club based in Seattle, Washington. The club competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. Sounders FC was established in November 2007 as a MLS expansion team, making it the 15th team in...

 fashion gala where the Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

 team, of which Carey is a minority owner, unveiled their new uniforms for the 2009 season. As part of the change, the show's models are now listed in the show's full credit roll, starting with December 2009 episodes, just before the announcer is listed in the credit roll. Beginning in the 2010 season, the models wear microphones so they can be heard as they're talking with Carey or the contestant, and on some episodes only two models are used, with the announcer serving as a third model for games using three models.

Guest models

In February 2006, supermodel
Supermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...

 Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...

 appeared as a guest model and assisted during two games.

Since Drew Carey became host in 2007, celebrities and sports professionals have appeared during specific segments (especially Showcases themed around the subject) on many episodes to promote prizes related to their professions, including Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment...

, Lou Ferrigno
Lou Ferrigno
Louis Jude "Lou" Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer/consultant, and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron...

, Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

, Jim Nantz
Jim Nantz
James William Nantz, III is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his work with CBS Sports television.-Early life:...

, Heidi Newfield
Heidi Newfield
Heidi Newfield is an American country music artist. She was lead singer, rhythm guitarist and harmonica player for the group Trick Pony, alongside Keith Burns and Ira Dean from 1996 until 2006, when she left in pursuit of a solo career...

, the United States women's national soccer team
United States women's national soccer team
The United States women's national soccer team represents the United States in international soccer competition and is controlled by U.S. Soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever Women's World Cup in 1991, and has since been a superpower in women's soccer. It is currently ranked first in the world...

, Chuck Finley
Chuck Finley
Charles Edward "Chuck" Finley is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1986-2002 for three different teams, but pitched primarily with the California Angels...

, Buzz Aldrin, Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards
Carl Michael Edwards, II is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #99 Fastenal/Aflac Ford Fusion in the Sprint Cup Series and the #60 Ford in the Nationwide Series for Roush Fenway Racing...

, Katie Stam
Katie Stam
Katie R. Stam is a beauty queen from Seymour, Indiana, crowned Miss America 2009.-Biography:Growing up, Stam was a 4-H member and showed dairy cattle at the Jackson County Fair....

, Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music artist. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". Released as the lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" went on to spend five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...

, and WWE Diva
WWE Diva
Diva is a term used by World Wrestling Entertainment , an American professional wrestling promotion, to refer to its female talent. The term is applied to women who appear as wrestlers, managers or valets, backstage interviewers, or ring announcers....

s Kelly Kelly and the Bella Twins
The Bella Twins
Brianna Monique Garcia and Stephanie Nicole Garcia are American twin professional wrestlers. The twins are a professional wrestling tag team under the ring names Brie Bella and Nikki Bella, collectively referred to as The Bella Twins, and work for WWE on the Raw brand.Before being promoted to the...

.

During Season 37, manufacturers of products began offering their representatives to model the equipment, such as athletes signed to play with that brand's equipment or who represent a specific sports manufacturer, musicians under contract with the instrument's manufacturer or corporate representatives of another product or service. They have mostly appeared during One Bids but also during the Showcase. Carey will introduce the individual modeling the prize and their affiliation to the manufacturer or prize provider.

In both 2009 and 2010, Kathy Kinney
Kathy Kinney
Kathy Kinney is an American actress and comedian. She gained considerable popularity in the late 1990s for playing Mimi Bobeck, the outrageously made-up, flamboyantly vulgar, and vindictive nemesis of Drew Carey on the sitcom The Drew Carey Show...

 appeared on the April Fool's Day episodes, reprising her role as Mimi Bobeck from The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1995 to 2004. The show was set in Cleveland, Ohio, and revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionalized version of the actor....

. In 2009, she appeared as a model, and in 2010, she acted as the executive producer, with the show's models trading places with three male staffers.

Often, a crossover with other CBS Daytime or Primetime shows will be included with the stars of those shows in question modeling prizes. These crossovers have included The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...

, The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams...

, Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...

, and The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....

. Tiffany Coyne (from Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...

) filled in as the fifth model on some episodes which aired in March 2011.

Staff members as models

In some cases, production staff and family members have modeled prizes. Then-associate producer Kathy Greco appeared on-camera as one of the models for an entire episode, and her husband Frank, a Los Angeles-area golf professional, modeled golf clubs. Sherell Paris
The Paris Sisters
The Paris Sisters were a 1960s girl group from San Francisco, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Priscilla Paris; her older sister, Albeth Paris; and their middle sister Sherrell Paris...

, an executive assistant and former member of a pop trio of sisters, once modeled a karaoke machine.

The announcer models men's watches, suits, and accessories used as prizes, a practice that has been used with all four permanent announcers (Johnny Olson
Johnny Olson
John Leonard "Johnny" Olson was an American radio personality and television announcer. His work spanned 32 game shows produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman from the late 1950s through the mid 1980s...

, Rod Roddy
Rod Roddy
Robert Ray "Rod" Roddy was an American radio and television announcer. He is primarily known for his role as an offstage announcer on game shows. Among the shows that he announced are the CBS game shows Whew!, Press Your Luck and The Price Is Right. On the latter two, Roddy appeared on camera on...

, Rich Fields
Rich Fields
Richard Wayne "Rich" Fields is an American broadcaster, spokesman, announcer and meteorologist, best known for being the announcer of the American version of The Price Is Right from 2004–2010....

, George Gray) and the majority of substitute announcers (although this was rare between 2000–2008). The announcer also appeared in Showcase skits, sometimes modeling the prizes or playing a character in a story line. Since 2011, on episodes where two models are used in games requiring three models, the announcer will assume the third model's duties. Since becoming the permanent announcer in 2011, Gray has appeared more frequently on camera describing prizes or paired with another model, and with the new announcer's podium that includes a video screen, some One Bids feature trips as prizes, with the prize appearing on the screen below Gray as he announces the prize.

Former FremantleMedia staffer Mandel Ilagan, who developed 1/2 Off, played a piano offered as a prize in 2009.

During the April 1, 2010 episode, in fitting the April Fool's Day theme of the episode, three different members of the production staff swapped roles with the models.

With Barker

In addition to the litigation suits, several other staff members have filed lawsuits against Barker and the program, alleging sexual harassment and wrongful termination. After Parkinson brought forth sexual harassment allegations against Barker, he called a press conference to admit a past consensual sexual relationship with her.

When asked in a USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

 interview about the four most famous Beauties, Barker replied, "They've been such a problem. I don't want to say anything about them. They're disgusting; I don't want to mention them." Barker gave praise to the rotating models featured during his last years as host of the program, calling them "the best models we've ever had."

All lawsuits, except for Hallstrom's, were settled out of court. Barker himself dropped his slander suit against Hallstrom, who countersued and received millions in settlement.

With other staff members

Two other Barker-era models who were added in the 2000's and went through the host transition have also filed lawsuits, with lawsuits targeting Executive Producer Mike Richards
Michael G. Richards
Michael G. Richards , also known as Mike Richards, is a television personality and producer....

 and producer Adam Sandler (not to be confused with the film star) for inappropriate behaviour on the set. "The Price Is Right" Model files lawsuit

Nighttime versions

The daytime models appeared on the 1970s syndicated nighttime version as well, with a few notable exceptions. In the earliest episodes, a third model named Harriet was present; her last name is unknown, but she holds the distinction of being Prices first black model. Additional models besides Parkinson were also featured on the nighttime show, including Janice's sister Ann Pennington
Ann Pennington (model)
Ann Victoria Pennington is an American model and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its March 1976 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Pompeo Posar and Phillip Dixon....

 and a model named Jenny who even had a Showcase with her as the main character, in which she was an artist painting the contestant's prizes.

On the 1985 syndicated version, Pennington, Parkinson, and Hallstrom appeared throughout the run. However, on the 1994 syndicated version, an entirely separate cast of models was featured: Julie Lynn Cialini, Ferrari Farris, and Lisa Stahl.

Since the premiere of the CBS prime time series in 2002 and beginning with The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectaculars in 2003, there are often situations where four to seven models appear on each episode.

List of models

Name Debut Departure Notes
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK