Black Models On ‘The Price Is Right’ Say They Faced ‘Raging’ Racism From Bob Barker And Fans

The longtime game show "The Price Is Right" is facing allegations of racism during Bob Barker’s tenure as host.

Kathleen Bradley, the first full-time Black model on The Price Is Right, along with her successor Claudia Jordan, are speaking out about the “raging” racism they say they faced on the long-running game show from fans, producers, and former host Bob Barker.

Bradley, Jordan, and other former “Barker Beauties” open up in the new E! docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals, revealing they faced racist fan mail, slurs spoken behind their backs, and what they describe as blatant racism from Barker, Entertainment Weekly reports.

“As time went on, at some point it got back to me that some of the fans were writing negative things about me being on the show, as a Black model,” Bradley said. “[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.”

”I think people should know the truth—the good, the bad, and the ugly,” she added.

Fellow The Price Is Right alum Holly Hallstrom recalled an incident in which Barker’s alleged racism contributed to a heated clash with co-star Dian Parkinson, who had an affair with him following his wife’s death and during his later relationship with Nancy Burnett. According to Hallstrom, tensions escalated in part because Parkinson dated celebrities, “including several Black men.” She added that the racial undertones didn’t surprise her, given Barker’s background as an older white man.

“[Burnett] said, ‘Oh my gosh, Bob has no idea that he’s had sex with a woman who has had sex with Black men. Bob has always said that Black men are the most diseased people on Earth,” Hallstrom recalled.

A decade after Bradley, Jordan became the second Black “Barker’s Beauty,” but the racism on set hadn’t changed. In the documentary, she claims producer Phil Wayne made racially charged remarks and alleges he also sexually harassed her.

”’Let’s make a reverse Oreo, Claudia, you get in the middle of the two white models,'” Jordan recalled him saying to her. “Or [he’d] tell me I’m the ‘ass model’ because stereotypically, Black women have a larger behind—and I guess that’s why he wanted to grab and feel it.”

Jordan claimed the show’s alleged bias extended to contestants, describing “a darker side” behind the scenes. She said producers leaned into negative stereotypes when selecting participants and alleged there was a limit of two Black contestants at a time—an order she attributed to Barker—with cards marked to indicate their race. She added it was “pretty sad,” recalling moments when Barker would appear to pull away from Black contestants who tried to hug him.

Barker, who died in 2023 at the age of 99, hosted the show from 1972 until his retirement in 2007. In response to the documentary’s explosive claims, Barker’s longtime representative, Roger Neal, denied any allegations of sexual misconduct involving Barker or the show.

”Barker was and is beloved, and people to this day love him,” Neal said. “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.”