Bob Barker takes final bow on The Price Is Right
Giving away one more car to an ecstatic contestant, TV host Bob Barker taped his last round of The Price Is Right, ending 35 years as host of America's longest-running game show and five decades on network television.
PHOTO GALLERY
Barker, 83, took the stage to a shower of confetti and a standing ovation but quickly got down to business conducting his usual assortment of contests and prize giveaways, culminating in a final Showcase Showdown.
Only at the end of taping did Barker finally acknowledge his retirement.
"I thank you for inviting me into your homes for more than 50 years," Barker said in the closing moments of the show, nearly drowned out by cheers from the audience.
Barker's final hour on The Price Is Right will air on June 15 in America in its usual daytime slot, with a rerun in prime time that evening leading into the telecast of the Daytime Emmy Awards.
Barker maintained his composure throughout the show, but during a news conference afterward, he choked up when recalling how a friend and longtime colleague had visited his dressing room earlier in the day to say goodbye.
"This is a very emotional time for me," Barker said. "This is the first time since I was 21 years old that I didn't have a show." He declined to talk much about his immediate future, except to say, "I'm looking forward to being bored".
Barker, who launched his national TV career in December 1956 as host of another long-running game show, NBC's popular Truth or Consequences, said last year he was ready to take a break from the hectic pace of taping five shows a week.
The tall, lanky entertainer, who grew up on a South Dakota Indian reservation where his mother taught school, got his start in radio and also emceed the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants for 21 years.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4087142a1860.html :cry: