In June 1988, a television camera knocked Janice Pennington, a longtime model on The Price Is Right, off the stage during a taping, and she broke her right shoulder. She was back on the show that November. What the accident permanently ended was her work in the trademark swimsuits that were part of her role on the program. Two surgeries left one shoulder about an inch shorter than the other and left scars that kept her from wearing them again. The show dismissed her in 2000, but the reporting on that dismissal does not connect it to the accident, so the claim that the accident “ruined” her career overstates what is documented.
Timeline of the accident and its aftermath
The dates below come from three sources: a 1992 Los Angeles Times legal report, a 2000 Los Angeles Times feature, and the transcript of Pennington’s return episode. Each row shows which source supports it.
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| Date | What was reported | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 1988 | A television camera knocks Pennington off the stage during a taping; she breaks her right shoulder. | Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1992 |
| Mid-to-late 1988 | Pennington is hospitalized and undergoes surgery. The 2000 feature says she was rendered unconscious in the fall. | Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2000 |
| November 10, 1988 | Pennington returns to the show; host Bob Barker refers to her fall, hospitalization and surgery in his welcome. | Return episode transcript, Dailymotion |
| 1992 | A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awards Pennington $1.3 million in her negligence suit against CBS. | Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1992 |
| October 19, 2000 | Pennington is dismissed from the show immediately after this taping. | Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2000 |
The injury and the recovery
The 1992 report places the accident in June 1988 and says the camera left Pennington with a broken right shoulder. The 2000 feature adds that she was rendered unconscious. Neither report gives a detailed injury list, so the broken shoulder is the one injury the coverage specifies.
The November 1988 return episode shows how the show itself framed the injury. Barker told the audience:
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“We have had so many inquiries since Janice had her unfortunate fall and her hospitalization and her surgery. Everyone’s been worried about you.”
The quote is as transcribed on the Dailymotion upload of the broadcast, so check the audio if you need the exact wording for a citation.
The lasting effect: swimsuit modeling
The most concrete long-term consequence in the reporting is physical. According to the December 2000 Los Angeles Times feature, the two surgeries left one of Pennington’s shoulders about an inch shorter than the other, and the scars prevented her from wearing the trademark swimsuits she was known for on the show.
That restriction is specific. It is a documented limit on one part of her work, not a statement that she could no longer appear on television. The reporting describes her as continuing on the program for about twelve more years after the accident, through the October 2000 taping.
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The 1992 negligence verdict against CBS
The 1992 Los Angeles Times report covers a negligence suit against CBS, the network that broadcast the show. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Pennington $1.3 million. The same report says she had appeared on more than 4,000 episodes of The Price Is Right during the preceding 20 years. Both figures come from that newspaper report and reflect the court result and the newspaper’s count at the time. The coverage cited here does not describe any appeal or later payment.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The 2000 dismissal and what the reporting does not show
Pennington was dismissed immediately after the October 19, 2000 taping. The December 2000 feature reports the dismissal and the shoulder and scar effects as separate facts. It does not present the dismissal as a result of the 1988 accident, and the coverage cited here does not give a reason for the decision.
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Nearly twelve years separate the accident from the dismissal, and in that time she returned to the show and kept working there. Without a source linking the two, the reader should treat the accident as a documented injury with lasting physical effects, not as the cause of the end of her time on the program.
Describing the story accurately
- Accurate: A camera knocked Janice Pennington off the stage in 1988, she broke her right shoulder, and surgery left lasting shoulder and scar effects that ended her wearing the show’s trademark swimsuits.
- Accurate: She returned to the show in November 1988, and a jury awarded her $1.3 million against CBS in 1992.
- Overstated: The accident ruined her career. The reporting documents a physical restriction on swimsuit work, not the end of her career.
- Unsupported: The accident led to her 2000 dismissal. The cited reporting does not make that link.
For a fuller account of the show’s history, the Los Angeles Times archive linked above is the most direct primary record of the period.
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