Per the Wikipedia article on "Barker's Marker$", it says that if a contestant makes a perfect bid before playing that game, he/she must give the $500 back during the prize description, so that it can be given out again; this is because TPIR has only 1 set of 5 $100 bills, which are used for perfect bids and "Barker's Marker$"-- to quote:
"The show only has one set of five $100 bills, which are used for perfect bids and for this game. If a contestant makes a perfect bid immediately before playing Barker's Marker$, the contestant has to hand the money back to Bob during the prize description so that it can be handed to the contestant again for the game."
Doesn't that seem a bit unfair? In other words, does that mean that a contestant can end up with nothing, despite making a perfect bid? You would think that the show would have more than one set of 5 $100 bills, because I thought that the $500 for a perfect bid rightfully belonged to the contestant as a reward, but seemingly it's different in "Barker's Marker$." After all, why in smoke would the contestant make a perfect bid, only to end up playing a game in which the bonus for it is used in a game in which it could be lost?
Here's the full article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barker%27s_Marker%24