For decades, Bob Barker was TV’s beloved “national treasure,” the face of The Price Is Right and the voice behind “Come on down,” Plinko, and the Showcase Showdown.
But a new E! docuseries is dragging the sparkle off the set.
In Dirty Rotten Scandals, former models and crew members claim there was a far uglier side behind the bright lights, including allegations of a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and discrimination during Barker’s long run on the show, which ended in 2007.
One of the loudest voices in the documentary belongs to Holly Hallstrom, a longtime “Barker’s Beauty” who says she’s finally getting the chance to tell her side after years of being painted as the villain.
Hallstrom worked on the show from 1977 to 1995. She has long claimed she was fired in October 1995 after gaining weight due to medication.
According to Hallstrom, the fallout didn’t stop with her exit. She says Barker sued her for libel and slander after she spoke to the media, including the show Hard Copy, about what she believed really happened.
Hallstrom also alleges the lawsuit was retaliation, tied to her refusal to go on the record in support of Barker when fellow model Dian Parkinson sued him for sexual harassment in 1994.
Hallstrom says the legal war lasted five years — and it nearly destroyed her.
She claims the costs left her broke, forced her to sell her house, and at one point even had her living in her car.
Then came the twist.
She says Barker dropped his lawsuit just 48 hours before trial. Hallstrom later countersued for wrongful termination and malicious prosecution, and she says she refused a settlement that included a nondisclosure agreement.
By 2005, she says she defeated him in the legal battle, which finally left her free to speak without being boxed in.
Hallstrom says she’s wanted to tell her full story for years, but believes previous attempts were shut down.
She claims she agreed to take part in the documentary only after enough time had passed — and after Barker was no longer alive to “squash” the narrative again.
“It has been cathartic,” she admits, but also says it brought back the most painful period of her life. “Emotionally exhausting” is how she describes it.
So why keep fighting?
In her words: stubbornness.
Hallstrom says she stayed in the battle because she believed she had the truth, and that the truth would win.
She also says she was moved to tears by the documentary’s inclusion of Claudia Jordan, who claims Hallstrom’s stand helped inspire her to file her own lawsuit years later against producer Phil Wayne Rossi, alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and wrongful termination.
Hallstrom says she’d never even met Jordan before the documentary.
Hallstrom praises Dirty Rotten Scandals for packing years of reporting into what she calls a gripping, binge-worthy story.
She says she watched it like a viewer who knew nothing, even though she already knew the events firsthand. And when Part 1 ended, she wanted Part 2 immediately.
Looking back now, she says what surprises her most is how much the culture has changed.
Hallstrom claims that back then, speaking up often meant being ignored — or punished. Now, she says, people actually listen.
“I wasn’t the person they said I was”
Hallstrom says the biggest reason she wanted to speak is simple: the fans.
She believes Price Is Right viewers adored the show and the models, but only ever heard one version of what happened.
She says she’s grateful the documentary gives the audience “the other side,” and insists she wasn’t the “fat lying, difficult” person she felt she was portrayed as.
Hallstrom says she’s built a life she’s proud of.
She currently works in San Diego, helping trauma victims using therapeutic practices, including neuro-linguistic programming, and says teaching others what she learned is what brings her joy.
Dirty Rotten Scandals: The Price Is Right premieres March 18 on E! at 9/8c.
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