Being on national TV can be a lot for some people to handle, especially when serious amounts of cash are involved.
Mike Richards, a former producer for The Price is Right, shared insights into the behind-the-scenes protocol of the show, including a contingency plan in case contestants get a little too excited.
“When I got there, they had a system in place in case someone peed their pants,” Richards told People. “I never saw it happen, but there were curtains and a blow dryer and [a] pair of sweats just in case, since we'd have to get on with the show.”
Richards, who also worked with Dick Clark Productions and Jeopardy!, told the publication that he worked on Price is Right as the show saw Drew Carey succeed Bob Barker for hosting duties.
Over at Jeopardy, the former producer recalled the late Alex Trebek’s natural talent for delivering impromptu speeches before each show without any assistance.
“A lot of people don't know that before each show, Alex Trebek would walk out and give a little speech,” Richards said.
“Not an interview, just a little speech. And no one helped him with that. It was never on a prompter. He just went out and did it, and we had no idea what he was going to say. And every time it sounded like he has spent months writing it. He was just so gifted.”
Richards also recalled some major challenges from the time he worked on Let’s Make a Deal with Wayne Brady, whose first season was filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in August 2008.
“The studio did not have enough air conditioning for August in Vegas. It was like 99 degrees in there, and everyone was just sweating through their clothes,” Richards recalled to People. “It was 2008. The economy was collapsing. People were sneaking in and sleeping in our bedroom sets.”
In another chaotic incident, Richards recalled that a show coordinator said they only had 15 people in the audience for a 280 capacity theater. But that was only the beginning of that episode’s troubles.
“And then, someone else came up to me and said ‘Somebody just drove a forklift through the back of the Porsche we were going to give away as the big deal of the day.' The executive producer looks at me and goes, ‘I got the Porsche. You get the audience,'” Richards said, adding that he was able to recruit guests from the nearby MGM Grand to fill the theater by promising them prizes.
This article was originally published on Complex.com.
