Going back to the original post, the poster mentioned something about substitute hosts on TPIR. On the Cullen version, there were several hosts that filled in when Bill is either sick, on vacation, or on special assignment for another program -- according to the "Encyclopedia", Bills subs were Jack Clark, Bob Kennedy, Johnny Gilbert, Sonny Fox, Sam Levenson, Merv Griffin, Robert Q. Lewis, Jack Narz, Arlene Francis and Don Pardo.
On the Barker version -- Dennis James, the host of the early-1970s syndie version, subbed for Bob on CBS around Christmas 1974. I think that was the only time someone else other than Bob hosted the CBS Price. These days, if Bob needed to take more time off, they reschedule the tapings and, if need be, schedule reruns instead of new shows.