Models no longer have short shelf lives. Witness 42-year-old Rachel Reynolds, who celebrates 20 years at the long-running game show, “The Price Is Right,” on June 6.
The Louisiana native who grew up in Mandeville, went to LSU and now lives in Baton Rouge has what she describes as a dream job. But when she was in college, modeling and acting were the furthest things from her mind.
“My dear friend Jennifer left our group of four roommates at LSU and headed for L.A. to ‘make it’ in Hollywood,” Reynolds remembered. “It was about a year later when a couple of us went to visit her. We were all hanging out together, when several people in the industry told us we should consider moving to California … they thought we’d have a good shot in the business.”
It was Reynolds’ fourth year in college, but she’d been there to run track, and with a serious injury sidelining her for good she started rethinking her life.
The allure of Hollywood led Reynolds to an audition for E!’s travel show, “Wild On,” in Dallas. Brooke Burke was leaving the show and they were auditioning across the country for a new host. With hundreds of young women in the running, Reynolds made it to the top 5. The remaining auditions were set for Las Vegas.
Although she didn’t get the hosting job, producers were impressed with her, and she met several Hollywood agents who were in Vegas. At that point, she made a decision.
‘Maybe I had a shot’
“I thought maybe I had a shot at this sort of career, so I moved to L.A. to get an agent,” Reynolds said. “I thought I’d give it six months, knowing I could always go back to college. I could move in with Jennifer while I was trying to make a go of it.”
Reynolds enlisted in an email campaign to find an agent, sending her headshots everywhere. Eventually she found herself in the office of a talent agent who, she says, understood her type: into fitness and with a certain commercial look.
When he asked her whether she’d ever been on a go-see for “The Price Is Right,” Reynolds was so green that she thought he was asking if she’d like to go see the show as an audience member. When he explained they were auditioning a huge number of young women for modeling jobs on the show, she jumped at the chance.
Just two months into her six-month foray to get a job, she landed “The Price Is Right.” She taped her first show in April 2003.
The game show has been on the air since 1956, when Bill Cullen was its host. Since that time Bob Barker took over for 35 years, and Reynolds says she was fortunate to be there for his last five.
Drew Carey has been at the helm since. Reynolds says that although the two men have very different personalities, they are both funny, witty and at their core, good human beings.
A major-league intro
While Jennifer was living and working in Los Angeles, a friend introduced her to then-major league baseball player David Dellucci, who was playing for the Texas Rangers in Dallas. A long-distance relationship ensued until Dellucci was traded to the Anaheim Angels.
They would come back to Louisiana for holidays and special events, since both Dellucci (who grew up in Baton Rouge), and Reynolds were Louisianians.
Dellucci retired in 2009 and the couple married in 2010. They moved back to Louisiana, where they eventually had a daughter, Ruby, now 10.
Reynolds was fortunate in that she never had to give up her job, because the show tapes ahead of its schedule. Ordinarily, she goes to L.A. every other week and puts eight shows in the can, so there are always shows banked. The six models, including two men, rotate through the shows on different days, and they’re all on hiatus for the summer.
There have been some laughs on the show, like the time she was pushed from behind the curtain by stagehands as she waved from a beautiful Corvette convertible. She had a mark where she was supposed to brake, but the car never stopped. She was pushing on the clutch instead of the brake and crashed the car into stage door 3. The unedited version was shown, and Barker recovered nicely by saying they were now giving away a “used” car.
While Reynolds is on the road, her husband, who at one time won the World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, takes care of Ruby. According to Reynolds, he makes it look easy.
“I have a dream job and a dream employer, who’s made it simple for me to continue to be a working mom,” Reynolds said. “I know there are 22-year-olds getting off planes every day who want my job, but hey, Vanna White is still on the air. I love my job, and I’ll stay as long as they’ll have me.”
Contact Leslie Cardé at lesliecardejournalist@gmail.com.
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