The uncomfortable environment is said to have led to a '10 Second Rule' about staring at models
Credit: E! Entertainment/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- Bob Barker hosted The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007
- During this era of the CBS game show, a number of female employees came forward with allegations of unprofessional behavior and sexual harassment in the workplace
- Holly Hallstrom and Kathleen Bradley detail their experiences in Dirty Rotten Scandals, in an exclusive clip shared with PEOPLE
The Price Is Right was a whole different environment, behind the scenes.
In an exclusive clip from E!'s new docuseries, Dirty Rotten Scandals, "Barker's beauties" Kathleen Bradley and Holly Hallstrom detail some of the activity that made the models uncomfortable on the set of the game show during the time it was hosted by Bob Barker.
"When I initially started the show, everybody was pretty cool, really friendly, especially the crew. But over a course of time, I kind of noticed the guys were kind of talking, looking, gawking at the girls. I found out this is a little more commonplace than I thought," Bradley shares of her time at the show.
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That treatment wasn't exclusive to the models on set. Barbara Hunter, who served as a producer beginning in the mid-1970s, claimed, "One time, I was in the elevator and one of the men just stuck their hands right on my boobs."
"I had to push him away, I didn't say anything. It became instinct to know how to handle it."
Bradley shared a particular incident where she says she was faced with a handsy stagehand.
"One guy in particular. He was a little friendly, too friendly. He would rub up against us, joking around. It's totally inappropriate. I learned the stagehand had been around on the set for a long time and was probably doing it to all the other girls," she shared.
"When I reported this guy to the producers? To my surprise, no action was taken. I was really taken aback. This was really sexual harassment. So I took matters into my own hands."
Credit: CBS via Getty
Bradley recalled a day on set when an area was set up with golf clubs.
"I said, 'Do you know how to play golf?' He said, 'Yeah, I play a little bit. Come here. Let me show you,'" she explained.
"So I let him get behind me. And I said, uh. I backed up and accidentally hit him right in the groin — accidentally on purpose, that was," Bradley laughed. "We were so exhausted and tired of the treatment. You just have to do what you have to do."
Hallstrom said that if anyone complained, the host "would have told her to get over it or look for a new job."
The complaints began to go up the ladder to CBS, at which time they allegedly implemented a "10-Second Rule," indicating that no one could "openly stare at a model for more than 10 seconds."
Credit: CBS Photo Archive/Getty
"There was no one monitoring how long the guys were staring at the models," Holstrom noted. "It was a joke. It was an appeasement. They did things that made it look like they were taking action, so you will stop complaining and go away."
Holstrom noted that things came to a head as an alleged affair between Dian Parkinson and Barker.
"It took a toll. There was fighting on the sets, yelling, and it was massive. And it ultimately, I think, destroyed The Price is Right."
Dirty Rotten Scandals: The Price Is Right premieres Wednesday, March 18 at 9:00pm ET/PT on E! with two back-to-back episodes.
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