‘The Price Is Right’ Model James O’Halloran Talks New Season & Why He Likes Getting Booed

A new season of The Price Is Right has begun, and with it comes the return of the game show’s models. The six models on the show rotate episodes, where they assist with games, prizes, and more.

James O’Halloran is celebrating his 13th season this year. The Australian has undoubtedly become a fan favorite, alongside fellow models Rachel Reynolds, Amber Lancaster, Devin Goda, Alexis Gaube, and Manuela Arbeláez.

With the show celebrating its 55th season, the most for any game show, this season is bound to be unforgettable. The addition of Wild Wheel Wednesdays adds to the excitement, where host Drew Carey, who is celebrating his 20th season, gets to choose a special prize during the Showcase Showdown.

O’Halloran talked to us about the upcoming season and its special milestones, including how his least favorite game turned into his favorite, as well as what he is up to outside of the show.

What can fans expect from the season of The Price Is Right?

James O’Halloran: We’ve got a big season. It’s going to be Drew’s 20th anniversary – 20 years he’s been doing the show. My 13th, if you can believe it. We’ve got a fully live episode going straight to air. That’s never been done in 55 seasons. And there’s also a whole run of themed episodes. We just shot the Halloween episode, which is a really cool one. Definitely got to check that one out. Lots of exciting stuff.

You mentioned Drew’s 20th season. Is there going to be a special celebration episode for that?

Yes, there is a specific celebration episode. We just worked on that, so that’s in the can. Drew chose all the prizes for that particular show, which was really cool. Lots of things that he’s done. I know they give away a trip to Africa, which he took the whole cast on a trip there at one point, and so it’s like things that are special to him. So that’s really cool, and just really big prizes, really big giveaways. So that’s a great one to look out for.

They introduced Wild Wheel Wednesday this season. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

I think it’s 100 grand on the wheel for the Showcase Showdown, and then on top of that, Drew picks a whole bunch of special prizes for the day. So it’s basically just more cash, more prizes being given away. Definitely gets the crowd really excited. It’s a really great time.

Since it’s the 55th season, is there going to be a big celebration for that as well?

For the 55th season, yeah. I think the live episode is probably going to be the big celebration. There are a lot of themed episodes. The Halloween episode that I mentioned is always a really great episode every year. The costume department goes really wild on that one. Last year, my costume was like a butler carrying my own head, so we had to go to a special costume place to have this done. I was chatting to the costume designers there, and they said, “Oh, another Australian. We just had Chris Hemsworth in here. He was working on one of his costumes for upcoming roles. So I was like, “They use the real deal there.” It’s really cool prosthetics that they use.

Can you tell me anything about the live show? 

I’m really excited for it. This is the first time they’ve ever attempted to do the show live, and anyone who’s been in and watched the shows knows that a lot of mistakes happen. Sometimes they leave them in, but if they’re big ones, they’ll do a redo. So, now you’re going to just see all of that in the show. You’re really going to see how the sausage gets made. I used to do a bit of theater, and so I’ll be leaning really heavily on that. I’ll just be trying not to think about the few million people watching from home. That’s a little bit of extra pressure. I’ll try not to swear live on air. That’ll be if I get through the episode without swearing. That’ll be f**king great.

Can you take me a little bit through a typical day recording shows?

It’s very busy. I would say that’s probably the key thing. It’s nonstop. We’re doing three shows a day now. It used to be two shows, so they’re really squeezing more and more in. There’s one rehearsal for all three, and so it just takes a lot of focus throughout the day, hitting all your marks, making sure I’m there for every cue because we’ll run the whole Showcase and I’ve got to remember every spot that I’ve got to be for every show. The stage managers and crew are great. They’ll remind me and stuff, but sometimes they’re busy. They’ve got their jobs to do, and so it’s a lot of just making it to mark sometimes. With the minimal rehearsal, it really is kind of like an improv show with Drew.

My five-year-old came into the show a little while ago, and he hit it off with a cameraman behind camera five on the jib. We call him Dirt Bike Bob, and he’s got a big scar from where he fell off his motorbike, and so naturally he became Max’s hero immediately after that. And now every time I get home from work, he just wants to know what Dirt Bike Bob’s up to, and if we gave away any motorbikes on that show. So that’s basically what he thinks the day consists of, and it’s not far from the truth, to be honest.

That’s so cute. 

Yeah, it’s ridiculously cute. I’ve got to get him to go again. It’s really fun.

What would you say is your favorite game from the whole time you’ve been on the show?

Oh, that’s a tough one. I think it changes. Actually, I think I’ve got a surprising one on that because it used to be one of my least favorite games, but it’s Pocket Change. I’ve started to get a fondness for it. So it used to be, it is, one of the hardest games to win, but there’s this part where, every time they get a number wrong, it’s my job to put the price of the car up. Drew started this bit where he always goes, “And mean old James is going to put the price of the car up,” as if I have any choice, but the whole crowd boos me, and I don’t just like it because it’s masochistic. I like it because I realized I have this power that if they boo me, I can just start putting the price of the car up, and that changes the dynamic really quick. They quiet down a bit, so it’s a really fun bit that we do. I always enjoy it. Obviously, my putting the price of the car up doesn’t change the effect, the outcome of the game.  I really want the contestants to win and give them a big hug afterwards, but it’s a lot of fun.

Is there something behind the scenes or that’s not shown while you’re filming that you think would surprise fans?

It’s hard to surprise the fans these days. They are sort of super fans. They know so much, and we do a lot of behind-the-scenes now on Instagram. There’s a lot where they’ll chat to the camera people and that kind of thing, but I don’t know. Oh, one thing that may surprise people. You might notice George Gray is always sitting at his podium, and you never see him from the waist down. He actually never wears pants on the show. He just wears pink budgie smugglers that say “I love Mama May,” and that’s a fun fact that you wouldn’t know. It’s great for the wardrobe department. No, but seriously, I think people would be just surprised how much fun we’re having back there. Really, it’s fun hanging out with our crew for the whole day.

You kind of mentioned Halloween before, but what theme days do you enjoy the most?

Well, it’s got to be Halloween. No contest on that one this year. I’m not sure what I can say about it, but it’s a very fun episode. The costume department goes wild with it. They always come up with a theme for the whole show. If you haven’t caught one of the themed Halloween episodes in the past, they really go all out. We had an Avengers one one year. We got designated a character, so it’s really like a role-playing episode, and I really enjoy that. It’s a lot of fun, yeah. The crew gets dressed up as well. It’s a really fun one. Hard to beat that.

Going away from The Price Is Right for a little bit. Do you have any projects outside of the show coming up?

There’s been a bit of stuff. I got to really earn my stripes this year on Law and Order: SVU. We filmed in New York, so that felt like a real rite of passage. It’s an institution that show, and I got to get arrested by Ice- T, got to be interrogated by Mariska [Hargitay]. It was just surreal. This is the cool stuff that we get to do, like hanging out with Ice-T. He tours in Australia a lot with his music, or has, and so he was really excited to chat about Australia and that kind of thing. It’s surreal finding myself in these positions, these situations.

What else can you check out? I led a Hallmark film called When Love Springs that you can check out right now. I did a recurring role on Ryan Murphy’s show Doctor Odyssey. That’s streaming on Hulu. That was a lot of fun with Joshua Jackson and Philippa Sue. I got to hang out with Shania Twain for the day on that show, another trip. It’s always those ones where I get to hang out with someone who I really looked up to, or really was sitting in Australia, never thinking that I’d meet these people, and then suddenly I’m hanging out with them.

I got to play a really cool role on Rebel Moon on Netflix. That was with Zack Snyder. That was really fun. I can’t wait to show my son that one, and my daughter as well. But it’s really up their alley. It’s got an R-rating, so it’s a little bit scary. For now, I have to wait to show them my scenes on that one.

And what else? Then there’s other stuff. I shot a pilot with Martin Short that was never picked up, unfortunately, but when I was growing up, I had the Three Amigos! on VHS, and I just watched it on repeat. So just once again, working with him was just an absolute trip. So, there’s been lots of lots of fun stuff. It’s been a good time.

You posted the video of you yo-yoing on AGT. How did you learn that?

Ah, my yo-yo. Do you know? I almost forgot about my yo-yoing skills. It dates back so long. So when I grew up in Australia, if you can believe it, on a farm, it was a 30,000-acre farm in the outback of Australia. The closest town’s like 45 minutes away, and there’s like 1,200 people there. It’s called Bell Reynold. So it’s a lot of isolation, and all of that to say, I think that with all that isolation, apart from driving cars and riding motorbikes around, I had plenty of time to practice things like yo-yo by myself, a lot of solo games.

I went away to boarding school when I was 12, just because of the isolation, and it was a similar problem there, really. Like, a lot of time on your hands; you’re at school 24/7, and so lots of time for activities. I spent a lot of time at boarding school, yo-yoing, playing guitar, playing sports, all that kind of thing. Yeah, so basically a lonely childhood. I put down my yo-yoing skills too. It pays off eventually.

The Price Is Right, weekdays, 11a/10c, CBS