Backstage at The Price Is Right: Memoirs of A Barker Beauty (16 page)

Chapter 26

Holly Fights Back

B
arker never made an on-air announcement during the show as to why Holly would not be returning. Holly was an institution on
TPIR
and the studio audience was disappointed not to see their favorite redhead Beauty when we resumed taping in September. When asked by various members in the audience, “Where’s Holly,” Barker would merely reply, “The lovely Holly took an early retirement and wanted to pursue her acting career. We’re all going to miss her too.”

Holly virtually grew up on
TPIR.
She was only forty-three years old when she was terminated—not quite the age at which one would seriously consider retirement. Although Holly was dismissed during the summer hiatus in late July 1995, we taped eight weeks in advance during May and June, so she appeared at the beginning of the new season in September. Her final show aired on Friday, October 27
th
.

After the dust cleared, Holly was not about to take her dismissal lying down. She had always been a fighter and was never a quitter. She contacted an attorney to find out about her legal rights. She also began making her voice heard on various major television talk shows, radio shows, and via the news media, saying that Barker and the show’s producers had forced her off the show because she had allegedly gained weight. Holly caused quite a stir from her television appearances and interviews, which led Barker and TPIR Production Company to bring a defamation lawsuit against her. Filed in December 1995, their complaint asserted that Holly’s statements to the media, which claimed that Barker and the producers had forced her off the show, were false and made with malice.

To the media, Barker defended the decision to let Holly go by stating, “The company was scaling back the models from four to three, and it wasn’t a simple matter of eliminating the one with the least seniority because two of the models, Kathleen and Gena, modeled swimsuits, while Holly and Janice didn’t.”

That was not necessarily true, because Holly wore a swimsuit in a few showcases right before the summer hiatus after she had lost weight. Holly may not have been the ideally sexy swimsuit babe, but when she was down in weight, she wore it well.

Barker and the producers further attested, “We wanted and needed two swimsuit models, but Nolin voluntarily left the show during the summer hiatus, so it was necessary to hire a new swimsuit model and terminate either Pennington or Hallstrom. We didn’t replace Hallstrom, we eliminated her position.”

Barker went on to explain, “We decided that Hallstrom should be the one let go because, between the two, Pennington had seniority and was much better liked than Hallstrom. Hallstrom had a history of erratic behavior, a long-running conflict with the director, and an abrasive personality.”

Barker and the producers swore up and down that Holly was not terminated because of her weight. Holly’s fans really missed her and were beginning to make their voices heard loud and clear in support of Holly after the press became privy to the
real
truth as to why she was let go. The studio audience was a little more disapproving towards Barker when he tried to convince them that it was Holly’s choice to leave and pursue her acting career—they just weren’t buying it. Barker received hate mail in high numbers for the first time in the shows history.

After Holly was fired and had appeared on one particular radio talk show, one of her friends, Andrew Arnold, a special effects technician working on
TPIR
and employed by CBS, called into the radio station to tell Holly that she was missed on the show. When Barker heard about Andrew’s phone call to the radio station in support of Holly, he requested that CBS remove Andrew from the show—and CBS did.

Hairdresser Ilana and Holly were good friends and stayed in contact after Holly was dismissed. When Barker heard that they were in communication, he told Sherrell to find out from Ilana what she and Holly were discussing. Ilana was taken aback and annoyed that she was approached with the ridiculous request to divulge her personal business to Barker. She refused to tell them a damn thing. As a result, she was the latest victim to be let go, never to return.

Shortly after all of the drama and trauma of Holly and Barker’s legal actions began, stage manager, Robert “Bob” Cisneros, someone very dear to me, was no longer at his post. I asked Doug Quick, “What happened to Bob?”

Doug responded, “He’s now working as stage manager or AD (associate director) for
Wheel of Fortune
.”

“Oh really? Was that by his choice or Barker’s? Sure would’ve been nice to say goodbye. Do you have his number?”

Doug didn’t comment on any of my inquisitions, but gave me Bob’s phone number. I was fond of Bob Cisneros and missed having him around. Cisneros was a true professional at his job and was very helpful to me when I had started working on the show. He had saved my butt a few times when I was missing in action and should’ve been on set. I wanted to call him to say thanks for all he had done for me, wish him well, and let him know that he would be missed.

“Hey, Bob. It’s Kathleen
.
How are you? So you left
Price
for
Wheel
— what’s up with that?”

“Well, I’m actually happier here at
Wheel.
It’s a big difference working for
Wheel
than for
Price
and better circumstances. I guess everything happens for a reason,” Bob replied.

“That’s good to hear. I’m really happy for you. But come on, you can tell me
—
what really happened that made you leave
Price
?”

“Barker has been trying desperately to make sure he discredits Holly and wanted me to back him in his testimony, which I refused. He put me on the spot and caught me totally off guard, Kathleen.”

“What do you mean? Did Barker put you on the hot seat?”

“One day after rehearsal, Barker asked me to come to his dressing room to discuss a private matter. It was just him and me in the room and he’d said, ‘I understand that you’ve been having a lot of problems with Holly. She’s been late for meetings. She is missing rehearsals. She’s missing cues during the show, right?’ I was in a fog and a little confused and asked him what he was talking about,” said Cisneros. “He looked at me strangely without saying anything, and then said, ‘Never mind. You’re no good to me. I don’t need you anymore.’ He then abruptly told me to leave his room.”

When Barker realized that Cisneros wasn’t on board with giving false accusations, he made it loud and clear to Cisneros
—
adios, amigo.

Cisneros didn’t deserve to be let go under these pretenses. People behind the scenes were reluctant to talk about the latest casualty, but it’s hard to seal a leak in the rumor mill. People were dropping off the set faster than a Plinko chip!

Barker’s libel suit against Holly was postponed as she searched for a new attorney. Holly’s original attorney wouldn’t give details on why he’d asked the court to be released as Holly’s attorney, but it was suggested that there was a “difference of opinion” between the two. Attorney Nick Alden stepped in to represent Holly, which proved to be a more suitable client/attorney relationship.

Holly filed a countersuit for wrongful termination in July 1996 against Barker and the show’s producers. The judge dismissed Holly’s suit, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove her claim for wrongful termination due to her weight gain. Barker then dropped his lawsuit, saying he felt vindicated by the judge’s ruling.

Holly appealed and filed a cross-complaint for malicious prosecution against Barker and the producers. Barker and the production company were disappointed by the latest turn of events. Jeremy Shamos, president of The Price Is Right Productions, stated in an interview, “We believe that our suit was meritorious and that we would have prevailed at trial. We dismissed our suit since our position was vindicated when the court had dismissed Ms. Hallstrom’s claim that she had been wrongfully terminated.”

The ongoing battle between Barker and Holly changed everything for the models as well as for the
Price
employees. Barker never visited the models dressing rooms solo again—for any reason—and the staffers were exceptionally cautious around Barker and his watch dogs.