“Price Is Right” announcer Rod Roddy once passed out on live radio after alleged altercation involving hot coffee with former Miss America
“Price Is Right” announcer Rod Roddy once passed out on live radio after alleged altercation involving hot coffee with former Miss America
Kathleen PerriconeFri, April 10, 2026 at 1:45 AM UTC
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Rod Roddy on 'The Price Is Right'Credit: CBS/courtesy Everett Collection
Rod Roddy’s catchphrase “Come on down!” took on a whole different meaning before he became the announcer of The Price Is Right.
In the 1970s, he hosted Rod Roddy’s Hotline, a popular Dallas radio show on KLIF that earned him a reputation as a shock jock. But it was Roddy who got a jolt when one guest was so angered by his line of questioning — not to mention him dousing her with ice water — she allegedly threw a cup of hot coffee in his face, which caused him to pass out live on-air.
As his friend and fellow announcer Randy West recently recounted on Nostalgia Tonight With Joe Sibilia, Roddy was interviewing an unnamed former Miss America (previously identified as 1962 winner Maria Fletcher) in 1972 when a misunderstanding reached a boiling point.
The beauty queen had come on the show to promote her new cosmetics line with Amway, however, Roddy was under the impression she was the reigning Miss America.
“So he booked her on the show… and she’s only there to hype Amway because they’re having some convention in Dallas,” recalled West of the multi-level marketing (MLM) company. “And he’s asking questions about women’s lib and ‘Did you feel objectification running around in a bathing suit for a beauty pageant?’ And all she wants to talk about is a new line of cosmetics from Amway.”
As the two went back and forth over the direction of the interview, West said Roddy raised his voice with the female guest. “Eventually, it escalated to where he poured a portion of a pitcher of ice water onto her head, but instead of her just being aghast and upset and whatever, she took her hot coffee and threw it in his face," he claimed.
Rod Roddy as the voice of 'Press Your Luck' in 1983Credit: CBS via Getty
West said Roddy was so shocked by the scorching liquid, he began hyperventilating.
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“He kind of passed out and hit the counter where the microphone is, so the audience heard a big clunk, and it fell on the floor,” West told Sibilia. “The engineer was, like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ And it took like 10 long seconds of silence until he got some music on. During that 10 seconds of dead air, it’s untold how many people called the equivalent of 911, I don’t even think that was a number in those days, but call the local authorities.”
An ambulance responded to the emergency call and when paramedics arrived at the studio, Roddy was “out cold,” West said. “They revive him, and he’s fine. I mean, he just passed out, which can happen.”
The interview was over, but Roddy was just getting warmed up. With the former Miss America now gone, he got back on the microphone “and starts lacing into her,” West continued.
To get back at his scorned guest, West said Roddy announced where his listeners could find her. “He said, ‘This Miss America is at the Amway convention, which is being held at the hotel XYZ, and I have here in the notes to contact her. Here’s the phone number of the hotel, and she’s in room blank blank blank. And I suggest you call and say that she was outrageous on the show, and she should be embarrassed.’”
Rod Roddy (far right) with Bob Barker and the 'Beauties' of 'The Price Is Right'Credit: Monty Brinton / CBS / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Ultimately, it was Roddy who suffered the consequences — his radio show was canceled.
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After bouncing around as the announcer for game shows like Press Your Luck, Love Connection, and Family Feud, Roddy scored the gig at The Price Is Right in 1986, a job he held until his 2003 death.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
