The idea of being on national television and winning big money is pretty exciting no matter who you are.
That’s why there used to be a protocol, in case the contestants won a little too enthusiastic when their names were called to come and play and they accidentally wet their pants, according to one ex The price is right manufacturer.
“When I got there, they had a system in case someone peed their pants,” former producer Mike Richards tells PEOPLE.
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Richards, who worked behind the scenes at places like Dick Clark Productions and Danger!, was on The price is right on the transition from the Bob Barker hosting era to the Drew Carey hosting era.
“I never saw it happen, but there were curtains and a hair dryer and [a] a pair of sweats just in case, because we would have to go on with the show,” he recalls.
Contestants are invited to play on The Price is Right.
Sonja Flemming/CBS
Richards has so many interesting stories from his days as a game show producer, including his brief time at Danger!
“A lot of people don’t know that before every show, Alex Trebek would come out and give a little speech, he says. “Not an interview, just a little speech. And no one helped him in that. It was never on the 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 spent months writing it. He was just so gifted.”
Richards also worked at Let’s make a deal when it first launched with Wayne Brady as host.
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“We shot the first season in Las Vegas, and it was in August,” he recalls. “And the studio didn’t have enough air conditioning for August in Vegas. It was like 99 degrees in there, and everyone was just sweating through their clothes.”
However, the underarm stains were the least of their worries.
“It was 2008. The economy was collapsing. People were sneaking around and sleeping in our bedrooms,” he says.
“I’ll also never forget the one time the screening coordinator ran up to me and said we only had 15 people in the audience for a theater of 280 people. I said, ‘Oh great,'” he continues. “And then someone else came up to me and said ‘Someone just put a forklift through the back of the Porsche we were going to give away as the big thing of the day.’ The executive producer looked at me and said, ‘I have a Porsche. You get the audience.'”
Richards says he ran across the street to the MGM Grand and began recruiting guests to come to the shoot. “I was like, ‘You’re going to get an award!'” Somehow he managed to fill the hall.
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“At the end of the day, it all looks like a big slick network production, but there were times we struggled to do it,” he says.
Richards recently opened up to PEOPLE about losing his job as the new host Danger!as well as the constant search for a new host, which eventually went to Ken Jennings.
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He notes that people have told him he should write a book about all the wild things he’s seen working on games, but he’s only interested in writing about working with his mentors.
“If I were to write a book, it would be as a fan,” he explains of getting the chance to work with people like Dick Clark, Bob Barker, Monty Hall, Pat Sajak and of course, Trebek. “Unless it’s about those people? I’m not interested in them.”
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Source: HIS Education