Bob Barker Ends 35-Year Run as Host on The Price is Right

LOS ANGELES, June 7: Bob
Barker, 83, taped his last round of The Price is Right Wednesday morning, ending his 35-year run as host
of the longest-running game show in the U.S. and his five decades on network
television.

The
final episode of The Price is Right
will air on June 15 on CBS in its usual daytime slot from 11 a.m. to noon, with
a rerun in prime time that evening leading into the telecast of the Daytime
Emmy Awards.

Barker launched his
national TV career in December 1956 as host of another long-running game show,
NBC's Truth or Consequences. He
has hosted The Price is Right since
the show began its current CBS run in 1972. In The Price is Right, contestants compete for prizes by coming as close
as they can to guessing the actual value of those prizes without going over
their exact price.

Barker did not acknowledge
his retirement till the end of the taping.

"I
thank you for inviting me into your homes for more than 50 years," Barker
said in the closing moments of the show.

During
a news conference afterwards, Barker commented: “This is a very emotional time
for me. This is the first time since I was 21 years old that I don't have a
show.” He declined to talk much about his immediate future, except to say, “I'm
looking forward to being bored.”

CBS plans to continue the
show with a new host, but has yet to name a successor to Barker, who said he
would be willing fill in at the start of the new season until a new emcee is
chosen.