Despite The Price Is Right being one of the most popular shows in game show history, not everything that happens on set is something to smile about. For the game show model and one of Bob Barker‘s former beauties, Janice Pennington, an accident that happened while filming changed the trajectory of her career forever.

Back in 1988, Janice Pennington was knocked off the stage by a camera, where she fell into the contestants’ row. Her fall was so hard that it knocked her unconscious. Despite the severity of the injury, which involved someone that Bob Barker knew personally, the show continued while Pennington was being transported to the hospital.

After a 45-minute hindrance that was caused by Janice being transferred onto a stretcher and then into the ambulance, the cameras were back to rolling. After two surgeries, Pennington was left with one shoulder an inch shorter than the other, and unpleasant scars that prevented her from wearing swimsuits to work ever again.

‘The Price Is Right’ Fired Janice Pennington

Despite everything Janice had been through on The Price Is Right — especially the effects of her surgery, which was career-ending for a model — she faced yet another setback. In October 2000, after 29 years on the show alongside Bob Barker, Janice was dealt another blow when she was let go from her duties, according to The LA Times.

Janice claimed that although she and Bob Barker worked side-by-side for almost three decades, he never said a word to her once she was let go from the show. “My manager called Barker the next day and left a message, but he never returned our call.” No proper goodbye, no send-off on The Price is Right, and no word to her manager either, although Janice stated that her manager reached out. Barker claimed that he did return her managers’ call, only after Janice agreed to sign a settlement which prevented her from speaking about her dismissal from The Price Is Right.

Both Janice Pennington and Bob Barker had two different stories about how this series of events played out. “[Pearson Television] did not want me to become involved in any way. But on the very day Janice signed the agreement, I left a message on her answering machine and told her that I wanted to explain why I had not called even sooner. And she has not returned my call.” Barker claimed that Pennington was the one who decided not to reach back out. However, Pennington said that she and Barker had barely had a conversation since the summer before she was fired. Regardless of who reached out first, the situation escalated quickly. And Janice Pennington was not the only woman with a rocky relationship with Bob Barker who was let go from The Price Is Right.

Several Women Were Let Go Over the Years

Another assistant on the show, Kathleen Bradley, was fired the same day as Pennington. Interestingly, Bradley blamed Bob Barker for her and Pennington’s firings. According to Bradley, she believed that she and Pennington were let go from The Price Is Right due to their testimony given in a wrongful termination lawsuit, filed by another former colleague of theirs, Holly Hallstrom. Holly claimed that she was fired due to weight gain. Bob Barker denied these accusations.

Kathleen Bradley referred to their firings as “retaliation.” She claimed that because of Kathleen and Janice’s testimonies in court, Bob Barker gave them the boot. “He was upset because my truth and his truth were different. If I [hadn’t] had to testify, I would still be a Barker’s Beauty,” Bradley said to The LA Times. Bob Barker responded by calling the accusation “totally unfounded,” and claimed that it was not his decision. Both Janice and Kathleen said they were given no good reason for their firings, and no proper goodbye from Barker or Pearson. The Price Is Right is available to stream on Paramount Plus in the US.