The representative for the late Bob Barker has rejected recent claims of harassment on the set of The Price Is Right.
“Barker was and is beloved, and people to this day love him,” stated Barker’s long-time representative, Roger Neal, in a comment to USA Today on Wednesday, March 18. “He was part of the fabric of American pop culture. He was the greatest MC in TV history. I was honored to have represented him.”
Barker, who passed away at 99 in August 2023, hosted The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007.
A segment from E!’s Dirty Rotten Scandals docuseries, released by People on Tuesday, March 17, presented allegations from two of “Barker’s Beauties,” Kathleen Bradley and Holly Hallstrom, about inappropriate behavior by men on the show during Barker’s tenure.
“Over a course of time, I kind of noticed the guys were kind of talking, looking, gawking at the girls,” said Bradley, now 75. “I found out this is a little more commonplace than I thought.”
Bradley alleged that one of the men “would rub up against us, joking around.” She added, “I learned the stagehand had been around on the set for a long time and was probably doing it to all the other girls.”
Bradley described the behavior as “totally inappropriate,” and claimed to have reported it to producers. “To my surprise, no action was taken. I was really taken aback,” she remembered, calling it “really sexual harassment.”
At one point, she “accidentally on purpose” hit a man in the groin when he tried to show her how to play golf.
“We were so exhausted and tired of the treatment,” Bradley said. “You just have to do what you have to do.”
Hallstrom, now 73, mentioned Barker directly.
“If anyone had gone to Bob because Bob was in charge of the show and said, ‘I have a problem, I have a complaint,’ he would have told her to get over it or look for a new job,” she claimed.
Following numerous complaints, CBS introduced a rule for The Price Is Right models.
The clip suggested there was a “10-second rule” prohibiting anyone from staring at a model for more than 10 seconds.
“There was no one monitoring how long the guys were staring at the models. It was a joke. It was an appeasement,” Hallstrom asserted. “They did things that made it look like they were taking action so you will stop complaining and go away.”
