Got back from California last night and we attended the 1PM, Monday, 9/17 TPIR taping. Our episode will air on 11/7. A couple of observations...
There is a new male model. This was apparently his 2nd day on the job. And he wasn't good. Seriously, I could model the prizes better. I realize that the job is harder behind the scenes than it looks, but this guy seemed lost up there. There were multiple stop downs for him to retake his shots (one including an electric scooter). Not sure if he is replacing James or not? I don't remember his name, but he and Rachel were the only two models for that taping.
Drew left the stage twice, leaving all of us just hanging there. I thought it was odd and frankly, unprofessional. And I like Drew. At one point, he told us "I'm going to go see what's taking so long." He was probably gone about 3 minutes. George did a phenomenal job of taking over and interacting with the audience. He seemed much more personable that Drew and I think he would probably make a better host. George was warm and very comfortable in his role as "sidekick" to Drew.
There was a stop down immediately upon revealing the first Item Up For Bids. There was a breakaway set and the stagehands didn't pull the halves apart at the same time. And the male model had a surprised look on his face as if he wasn't ready for the reveal! Overall, the episode was a good one and there were a couple of very exciting moments that I won't spoil here.
For those of you that have attended a Drew taping, is it normal for Drew to just walk off the stage? I've been to two other Barker tapings (2002 and one about 7 weeks before he retired). Bob stayed on stage the entire time. Thoughts?