Bob Barker Announces Retirement

Zap2It.com | October 31, 2006

Bob Barker

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'Price Is Right' host will step down in June

The final Plinko tile is soon to fall in Bob Barker's storied career.

CBS confirmed on Tuesday (Oct. 31) that Barker will retire in June, ending a storied 50 years on television.

Barker turns 83 in December and the celebrated host had been talking about retirement for at least a decade.

"We knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it any easier," says Leslie Moonves, president and CEO, CBS Corporation, in a network statement. "Bob Barker is a daytime legend, an entertainment icon and one of the most beloved television personalities of our time. His contribution and loyalty to this Network is immeasurable."

Barker was previously best known for hosting duties on shows like "Truth and Consequences" when he began hosting "The Price Is Right" on Sept. 4, 1972. In his time as host, Barker earned 13 individual Emmys and three Emmys as one of the show's producers. He received a Daytime Television Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 1999 and was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in June 2004.

During that time, very little could keep Barker from his day job prodding college students and senior citizens to guess the prices of jet skis, common household items and new cars. In 2002, Barker even scheduled his elective prostate surgery for the show's hiatus so as not avoid missing shows.

Barker has acknowledged that the show's producers at Freemantle Media have been searching for his replacement for several years, but no official line of succession has been announced.