Gets Ten Chances: Doesn’t Need Any of Them
When a show is on the air for so many decades, there’s bound to be a mistake made here and there. And, when you’re dealing with a game show that gives away millions of dollars in cash and prizes, it’s usually a pretty expensive mistake. Just take the time Bob Barker was unpleasantly surprised by an “oops” in the game Ten Chances.
During a standard version of the game, the host would lift a giant card to reveal a jumble of numbers that the contestant must unscramble to guess the final prize cost. Only, someone forgot to add the jumbled cards, and instead, Bob flipped right to the final price. Amazingly, he was still able to stretch out the game and make it both exciting and dramatic – even though he’d already given away the ending.
Fired for Being Pregnant
It’s illegal for employers to discriminate against employees for things like being pregnant. Unfortunately, it’s all-too-common when it comes to working in show business. After model Brandi Cochran became pregnant with twins, she reported that producers started hurling insults at her, things like, “wide load coming through.”
The model, who’d worked with the show for six years, between 2002 and 2008, was ultimately terminated after taking maternity leave that year. She filed a lawsuit against the show in 2010, in which she won over $8 million. Cochran isn’t the only woman to report lousy behavior from behind the scenes on Price.
Attempting to Cheat at 3 Strikes
When playing 3 Strikes, the contestant must draw red and white balls to reveal either a number or a strike. In this case, this woman thought she could get away with slipping the strikes back in the bag without anyone noticing – she was wrong.
She starts strong, pulling a white ball with number one, and placing it on the board correctly. She gets one more number – and one more strike – before she starts to get a bit nervous about missing out on the prize truck that’s up for grabs. Drew Carey watches as she grabs not one, but two red balls and tries to drop them back into the baseball-shaped bag. The host catches her, calling her out on the shenanigans both times.
Bob Flips When Flip Flop Doesn’t Flop
On a good day, Bob Barker was just the most helpful guy you can imagine. And when he’s pissed off on set, he still seemed like he was pretty nice. In fact, even when he was turning red and yelling, he did it with a smile on his face.
Just take the instance of the game that didn’t go the way he wanted, and he flipped out on the contestant playing. “Get off the stage!” He yelled, even pushing the guy away. And it was all due to that pesky red button that just beckoned players to hit it, even when they weren’t supposed to. Producers wound up fixing that issue – probably at Bob’s request.
Pricing Mishaps
On the 3rd of March 1989, the show that aired seemed to be full of pricing miscues. It all started when contestants played Punch-a-Bunch when one woman nearly made a move way too early. Luckily, Bob jumped in to stop her. However, just a few minutes later, a pricing slip seemed to disappear, and he got flustered, and nearly just gave up and awarded the top prize - $10,000.
Of course, Bob never seemed to stay flustered for too long, and he’s always able to bounce back from any mistakes on the show. So, they moved on to the next segment, which is a game of One Away, where someone who’d put the game together had misplaced an entire row of numbers, making it impossible to win. It seems like someone had a rough night before coming in to work that morning.