Ian Turpie Passes Away

Iconic gameshow host Ian Turpie has passed away today.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-game-show-host-ian-turpie-has-died/story-e6freeul-1226296255182

While he's probably most famous for his hosting of The Price is Right on Channel 7 and 10, he also hosted the short-lived Supermarket Sweep, which I think lead a generation of 8 year olds to run around supermarkets with trolleys!

RIP Turps

Some footage of Turps at his peak

He was a great game show host and will be sadly missed. He always appeared more genuine than John Burgess.

Noticed John Deaks doing voice over, I assume someone else was doing voice over for Wheel of Fortune at that time then.

Just looking at that clip, makes me wonder about a couple of things re the contestants which was rumoured re the show. Whether it was true that:

1) contestants had to pay a "fee" to have their names called out to "come on down"
and

2) whether the contestants were given a bit of wine/champagne to have them "relax" and show a bit more personality.

I know in the US version of the show, they don't pay a gee, but it's not random either. Contestants are selected via an interview process. Was most likely the same for our versions.