Whatever Happened To The Models On The Price Is Right?
Come on down! Those are the three words that audience members love to hear on "The Price Is Right," which began in 1972. Contestants put their consumer knowledge to the test to win big prizes, like trips and cars. The daytime staple turned the late Bob Barker into a household name, as he hosted the show from 1972 to 2007, after which the reins were handed over to Drew Carey.
And it is not complete without models showing off luxurious prizes. For decades, the job was exclusively held by women, but that changed when the show held an opening casting call for its first male model in August of 2012. But the on-screen positivity has not always been felt behind the scenes. Over the years, various models filed complaints against Barker and the producers, some of which included sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
Longtime fans will recall models were not given mics, but a new era changed that. Former cast member Gwendolyn Osborne-Smith told Fox News that the push for models to have mics came as a new producer was looking to make changes amid Carey's onboarding. "I was very much determined to have that and I was happy it was received," Osborne-Smith said. "... We were all ready to become personalities rather than just look like models."
Some models have stayed in the spotlight after leaving the show while current cast members have also taken on side projects. Here is what has happened to some of the show's most recognizable models.
Janice Pennington
Janice Pennington can be spotted on more than 5,000 episodes of the popular game show. She was there from the beginning, first appearing in 1972. According to the Los Angeles Times, she was dismissed from the show in the fall of 2000, around the same time that Pearson Television took ownership. Pennington said Bob Barker did not return a call from her manager until after she signed a settlement in regard to her dismissal.
Upon Barker's death in August of 2023, Pennington told Entertainment Tonight that she enjoyed working on the show. "It was a party. The audience was very excited and they knew the games," she said. "... Really, you looked forward to going in to work every day ... It was a very friendly atmosphere. Everyone was having fun, especially Bob." She noted that she was not upset with Bob in the years after her sudden termination.
While Pennington is known for her long run on "The Price Is Right," she has also shared her gift for writing, becoming an author in 1994 with the release of her book, "Husband, Lover, Spy," which shares her quest for answers after her husband, mountain-climber Friedrich "Fitz" Stammberger, disappeared in Afghanistan in 1975. She can be spotted in the 2020 documentary "Hopper/Welles," but she seems to be living a largely private life nowadays.
Kathleen Bradley
Kathleen Bradley stepped onto "The Price Is Right" set in 1990, becoming the show's first permanent Black model. During a 2022 speaking engagement with the Monday Book Review Club at Tippecanoe Country Club in Canfield, Ohio, she noted that before joining the game show, she was one of the first Black gymnasts at the Junior Olympics and was a member of the disco group Love Machine before moving to California.
While revealing game answers during the daytime lineup, she was also making waves on the big screen, playing Mrs. Parker in the hit 1995 comedy "Friday." She last appeared on "The Price Is Right" in 2000. Bradley told 10 Tampa Bay (via YouTube) that she was abruptly terminated, noting that she did not get a chance to say goodbye to home viewers.
In 2014, she shared behind-the-scenes stories in "Backstage at The Price Is Right: Memoirs of a Barker Beauty." She has since continued to appear on the small screen and can be spotted playing a nurse on "Grey's Anatomy" during Season 12, Episode 16, "When It Hurts So Bad," and Season 15, Episode 5, "Everyday Angel." She was even a consultant on a proposed comedy series that followed the first Black model to appear on a major game show. The show was titled "36-24-36" and was in development in 2015.
Anitra Ford
Kathleen Bradley was not the only model from "The Price Is Right" to be spotted on the small screen and the big screen at the same time. Anitra Ford began showing off prizes in 1972 during the show's very first episode. Primetime TV watchers could also spot her on the popular crime drama "Starsky & Hutch," first appearing as Molly during Season 1, Episode 7, "Pariah," and then appearing as Silky during Season 3, Episode 1, "Starsky and Hutch on Voodoo Island."
In 1974, she appeared as Melissa, Paul Crewe's (Burt Reynolds) girlfriend, in the football film "The Longest Yard," which follows Crewe's journey from professional football player to prison, where the inmates challenge the guards to a game.
Ford exited "The Price Is Right" during Season 5 in 1976, and she didn't really appear on the big or small screens after that. She returned to the world of game shows in 2018 as a contestant on the ABC show "To Tell the Truth," during Season 3, Episode 5, and revealed that she had ventured into the world of photography while also becoming an artist and a published poet.
Claudia Jordan
Before she was taking on Nene Leaks on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," Claudia Jordan was showcasing prizes on "The Price Is Right," appearing on more than 400 episodes between 2000 and 2003. She also helped out during nine episodes of "The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular" from 2003 to 2004.
But becoming a model wasn't always the future that she had in mind. She told "Daily Blast Live" (via YouTube) that she originally wanted to work in the biology field but switched majors after receiving praise for an article she wrote in her college newspaper. "I switched majors and then got on the radio, had the first hip-hop show at my college, Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio, and then I got into pageants," she said. "My mother actually made me run for Miss Teen Rhode Island and Miss Rhode Island, and I won."
Following her time on "The Price Is Right," Jordan would appear on the family comedy series "That's So Raven," playing teacher Miss Bonita during Season 3, Episode 17, "They Work Hard for His Money." She would also share her modeling expertise as a judge during "Miss Universe 2012." She joined "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" in 2014. She is currently working on the Fox Soul talk show "Cocktails with Queens," covering the latest in news, politics, and entertainment with several hosts, including Vivica A. Fox.
Brandi Sherwood-Cochran
Brandi Sherwood-Cochran first appeared on "The Price Is Right" in 2001. Before that, she saw a lot of success on the pageant circuit, competing as Miss Idaho USA during "The 46th Annual Miss USA Pageant" in 1997. She was initially named the runner-up and was later given the title for that year. She then served as a judge during the "Miss USA" pageant in 2004. She also appeared on "The Bold and the Beautiful," playing various models during four episodes that aired between 2004 and 2008.
Sherwood-Cochran's run on "The Price Is Right" ended in 2009. She alleged discrimination in regard to her pregnancy and sued the show and producers at FremantleMedia North America in 2012. She won the lawsuit, but it was later overturned, citing an error in jury instructions. The case was then settled. She has not returned to the small screen since leaving the show.
Lanisha Cole
Lanisha Cole had game show fans seeing double during the 2000s, making appearances during the daytime and primetime lineups on network television. While working on "The Price Is Right" from 2003 to 2010, she was also opening briefcases for Howie Mandel and nervous contestants on the popular show "Deal or No Deal," regularly appearing from 2006 to 2008.
In 2011, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against "The Price Is Right," which included complaints against then-producers Adam Sandler and Michael G. Richards, not to be confused with the actors known by the same names.
Since leaving the game show, Cole has become a mom, giving birth to daughter Onyx Ice in 2022, whom she shares with fellow celebrity Nick Cannon. She is also a professional photographer, sharing her talent on her website, Lanisha Cole Photography, and produced the 2022 documentary "Rudy Cole: Painting Panama," which follows her father's journey as a professional painter.
Gwendolyn Osborne-Smith
"The Price Is Right" is just one of the many on-screen credits that Gwendolyn Osborne-Smith has gained over her entertainment career. She appeared on the show from 2005 to 2019, working with both Bob Barker and Drew Carey.
She told Fox News that her time on "The Bold and the Beautiful" helped her land the job on the game show. "It was an under-five liner so I was a talking model, you can say. It just so happened that there was a beach scene so I wasn't wearing very much," she said. "And the 'Price Is Right' stage is right next door to 'The Bold and the Beautiful.' They actually share a bathroom. Apparently, I was spotted working and the rest is history!" She added that she also modeled on the show while pregnant.
According to Osborne-Smith's website, she was the longest-running woman of color to be a game show model. She has since become CEO of the skincare company Lomolique and has her own podcast called "Tea with Gwen," offering encouragement and ways to stay healthy in a fast-paced world. She also continues to act, playing a warrior in "Wonder Woman 1984" and appearing as Juliette on "Grown-ish" during Season 5, Episode 18, "Cash in Cash Out."
Robert Scott Wilson
The model role changed in 2012 when "The Price Is Right" welcomed its first male model. Robert Scott Wilson landed the history-making role after winning a contest that gave him the opportunity to appear on the show for one week. But things quickly changed, with producers offering him a more permanent spot soon after that.
He told TVLine that the contest included plenty of competitions. "One of them we had to design shirts," he said. "... And as if we got called out from the crowd, you had to show what your reaction would be. ... And then we did this crazy karaoke thing which I guess got me a bit further along, because I just let go, and the judges really liked that. I freestyled a rap over the 'Price Is Right' anthem."
Wilson would continue to appear on the show until 2014. During his run on the show, he was building up his soap opera resume, including on 43 episodes of "All My Children." He has been appearing on "Days of Our Lives" since 2014 and was first cast as serial killer and mechanic Ben Rogers, later named Ben Weston. He then transitioned into the role of businessman Alex Kiriakis during Season 57, Episode 205, in 2022.
Since his departure, male models continue to stand in the spotlight on "The Price Is Right," with James O'Halloran joining the show in 2014 and Devin Goda joining in 2018.
Amber Lancaster
Amber Lancaster has been waving from the "Price Is Right" stage since 2008, contributing to more than 500 episodes, but TV game shows are not the only competitions that she's participated in. For five years, the native of Tacoma, Washington, could be seen on the sidelines of the football field, getting the crowd pumped as a member of the Seattle Seahawks cheer squad, the Sea Gals, before heading to Los Angeles.
She is also one of the cast members who helped bid a fond farewell to Stage 33 in Television City in 2023, sharing the moment on Instagram. Amid a video montage, she wrote, "I've been picked up, twirled around, cried on and danced with. ... I've seen people get engaged, beat cancer, with a trip for their 50th wedding anniversary, win a car when they've been riding the bus, win $10k when they've just lost their job. The fact that I get to be even a small part of those experiences is what makes me the most grateful." The show had been filmed at Television City since it began in 1972, and it has now moved to Haven Studios in Glendale, California.
While Lancaster is still being twirled around by happy contestants, she has also appeared on other small-screen staples, including "Days of Our Lives," "The Bold and the Beautiful," and "CSI: Miami."
Manuela Arbeláez
Manuela Arbeláez first joined the game show in 2009, and she made a name for herself in game show history with an accidental spoiler in April 2015. While playing for a new car, contestant Andrea guessed that the price of their potential ride was $19,849. Arbeláez removed the price tag to reveal that it was the wrong answer, triggering a buzzer sound effect. She then prematurely pulled the tag below Andrea's first guess, revealing that $21,960 was the correct answer. The moment gained plenty of attention and laughs, even though Arbeláez was visibly embarrassed while Drew Carey laughed on set and even told Andrea that she had just been given a new car.
Arbeláez told "Inside Edition" (via YouTube) that it was the buzzer that caused her knee-jerk reaction. "I was mortified because I thought, A, 'This is my last day at work,' B, 'It's gonna get taken out of my paycheck every week,'" she described. "After I heard the buzz ... I'm like, 'All right, game over.' And when someone loses, our natural reaction is to reveal the remaining tags." But she noted that Drew Carey and the producers thought the moment was hilarious and assured her that she had nothing to worry about.
She continues to be a current staple of the game show, and she has been showing off her acting skills by appearing, like many of the game show's models, in an episode of "The Bold and the Beautiful" in 2010.
Rachel Reynolds
Several models have spent decades showcasing prizes on "The Price Is Right," and Rachel Reynolds is just one of the names with a long tenure, appearing on the show for 20 years and counting. She started the job in 2003, later noting in an interview on the "Price Is Right" Facebook page that the idea to audition came out of a conversation with an agent. The rest is history, and she's seen the set get a makeover over the years. "The show has changed dramatically since 2003," she said. "I remember we used to do trips, and the trips were these huge billboard things ... They were made of wood, and they were paintings."
She told People that when starting her work day, she is given between 30 and 40 outfits to choose from, noting that she comes in with no makeup and comfy clothing. Despite her long run on the show, she notes that this job never gets boring. "Every day is different," she explained. "Even though it's the same game show and we play tons of different games, it doesn't matter. We have new contestants, different personalities. So, it's the last thing from being boring at all."
Reynolds has also modeled Venus swimwear and has several acting credits to her name, including appearances on "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Bold and the Beautiful."