"The Price Is Right" host Bob Barker said the time is right for him to leave his role as host of the longest-running game show in television history.
"I think that it is a very appropriate time for me to leave," Barker, 83, told CTV's Canada AM. "I'm completing my 50th year on television, the 35th year of 'The Price is Right.' They still want me and I'd like to leave before they change their mind. I don't want them someday to be saying, 'Don't you think it's about time, Bob, to hang it up?'"
On Wednesday, Barker will tape his final episode, which will air on June 15. Hundreds of fans have been lining up outside CBS Television City in Los Angeles this week to see him sign off on the show for the final time.
Fans had requested tickets for the final show tapings months ago, but that did not ensure admission, according to CBS network spokeswoman Cindy Marshall.
The network regularly mails out more tickets than the 325 seat studio where 'The Price Is Right' is taped can hold, so admission to the audience is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
As a result, fans from across North America were sleeping next to the studios Monday night in sleeping bags, blankets and tents, obtaining supplies from a nearby Kmart.
"I'm here because I need to kiss Bob," Melanie Zepeda Velez, 32, who travelled from Alberta for the event told the Associated Press.
Barker is overwhelmed by the fan response to his pending retirement as host of the legendary game show.
"I say that I am grateful on every occasion that presents itself," Barker said. "Because I truly am grateful and the reception of my retirement is humbling, it really is. To think that people would react this way, I had no idea that it would be as big as it has been."
While he may be leaving his job as the host of The Price Is Right, Barker has been receiving job offers -- from Canadian fans of the show. A group of audience members recently attended a taping of the show with 'Bob Barker for Prime Minister' shirts.
"It's a done deal, as far as I'm concerned," Barker said. "And I've promised to make whatever problems you have right now much worse. That's my platform."
Barker's replacement has not been named, but the veteran host has sage advice for the next person who will preside over the high-energy game show.
"You just have to go out there and be yourself and have fun with people in the same way you would like to have fun with them at a party or at home or wherever," Barker said. "And just keep it focused on the contestant and the game and at the same time have fun. That's my advice."
With files from The Associated Press
