Before ‘Jeopardy!’, Mike Richards Reportedly Led to the “Dismantling” of ‘The Price is Right’

Are you ready for even more drama around the Mike Richards situation? The EP has made his exit from Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, lost a short-lived stint as the permanent Jeopardy! host that may have tarnished the quiz show’s storied past, and now according to several Price is Right staffers, he left a “tumultuous” legacy on their game show, as well. In a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, more than a dozen folks who worked with Richards on Price is Right said there was a “dismantling” of the workplace environment that he entered when he signed on as producer.

Back when Richards was rumored to be taking over for Alex Trebek as the host of Jeopardy!, several lawsuits regarding alleged harassment and discrimination on the set of Price resurfaced. Per THR‘s report, multiple sources involved with Price Is Right during Richards’ stint “also questioned his conduct with models on the series,” claiming that “he would parade models around the stage during rehearsals as he polled employees about their attire and gave preferential treatment to some.”

Drew Carey, who hosted the show during Richards tenure, pushed back against this notion in a handful of tweets posted after the news dropped. “Every TPIR model since I started got pregnant and he built whole season arcs celebrating them. We even had baby shower shows for crying out loud. They weren’t even allowed to talk to me before Mike came on the show,” Carey posted Aug. 7. “He took them from just bodies on the stage to actual people that audiences could get to know as part of the TPIR family. He’s great. And I hope he gets to be the next Jeopardy host too.”

But some folks told THR that his transformation of Price resulted in the dissolution of the close-knit work family that that preceded his time producing the show. During his tenure, a handful of staffers lost benefits and paid hiatuses, and there was a more laborious schedule that brought down workplace morale. Richards reportedly forced everyone into the office on Fridays, even though it wasn’t a filming day for Price.

“People were there for decades because it was a great job. You were getting paid 52 weeks a year and working 30 weeks a year with the taping schedule,” said a decade-long former staffer who was among one of the departments eliminated under Richards.

Another ex-employee said the trauma was enough to force her out of the industry entirely, noting that it “was shitty management.”

Art director and production designer Bente Christensen spent 18 years with Price, leaving under Richards’ reign after filing a complaint against the producer for age-related comments and micromanaging.

“I filed the complaint because I felt Mike Richards was targeting me, trying to get me to quit,” said Christensen, “CBS ‘looked into’ my allegations that Mike Richards was targeting me, bullying, intimidating and demeaning me” though HR said his behavior was “not punitive or illegal.” But she says that “most people realized going to HR was worthless because they only protect management.”

According to one Price staffer, it seems like Richards was simply pining after the famed role of game show host, rather than actually caring about the legacy of the show.

“When Mike got the exec producer job, no one could figure out why he’d take Wheel and Jeopardy when he had the Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal job — was it more money?” they said. “Then I realized it’s because he would do some game show things and it was obvious that he wanted to be a game show host. What better way to create that opportunity than to be in charge of the hiring process as EP?”

Five episodes of Mike Richards’ brief stint as Jeopardy! host will air beginning on Sept. 13. Mayim Bialik will then take over for three weeks, with the rest of the guest hosts yet to be announced.