Monday, 25 November 2024

Iconic Game Show Host Passes Away At 83

100 Percent Fed Up
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Legendary game show host Chuck Woolery, known for shows such as “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection,” and “Scrabble,” has passed away.

He was 83.

Woolery was the first host of “Wheel of Fortune.”

“It is with a broken heart that I tell you that my dear brother @chuckwoolery has just passed away. Life will not be the same without him, RIP brother,” Dr. Mark Young said.

The Associated Press said Woolery “later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19.”

Per TMZ:

Chuck’s longtime friend and podcast cohost Mark Young tells TMZ … he was at Chuck’s home in Texas when Chuck said he wasn’t feeling well and went to lie down.

He came back to the room a short time later and said he was having trouble breathing. 911 was called, but Woolery did not make it.

Game show enthusiasts will be very familiar with Chuck’s work … with Woolery’s big break coming in 1975 when he became the first host of “Wheel of Fortune.”

He hosted the show until 1981 when he left due to a salary dispute and Pat Sajak took over the job. He went on to host “Love Connection,” “Scrabble” and a revival of “The Dating Game.”

From the Associated Press:

Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.

In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV’s “Love Connection,” for which he coined the phrase, “We’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds,” a two-fingered signature dubbed the “2 and 2.” In 1984, he hosted TV’s “Scrabble,” simultaneously hosting two game shows on TV until 1990.

“Love Connection,” which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date.

A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about the date. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest’s choice, “Love Connection” would offer to pay for a second date.

Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. “She had so much eye makeup on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, ‘I remember wagon trains.’ The poor guy. She took him on a balloon ride.”

Other career highlights included hosting the shows “Lingo,” “Greed” and “The Chuck Woolery Show,” as well as hosting the short-lived syndicated revival of “The Dating Game” from 1998 to 2000 and an ill-fated 1991 talk show. In 1992, he played himself in two episodes of TV’s “Melrose Place.”


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