Wheel of Fortune (Australian game show)

Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune logo
Format	Game show
Created by	Merv Griffin (USA)
Presented by	Ernie Sigley (1981 – 1984) John Burgess (1984 – 1996) Tony Barber (1996 – 1997) Rob Elliott (1997 – 2003) Steve Oemecke (2003 – 2005) Larry Emdur (2005 – 2006)
Starring	Laura Csortan, Adriana Xenides, Sophie Falkiner (letter turner) (Seven Network version) John Deeks (announcer, Seven Network version) The personnel above are for the 2006 series. See the "presenters" section for the full list.
Theme music composer	Seven Local TV
Country of origin	Australia
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	25
No. of episodes	5093
Production
Location(s)	Adelaide, Australia (1981-1996), Epping, Sydney, Australia (1996-2005), Pyrmont, Sydney, Australia (Late 2005-2006)
Running time	25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network
Picture format	576i (SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	July 21, 1981 – July 28, 2006
Chronology
Followed by	Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune (2008, broadcasted on the Nine Network)
External links
TV.com summary

Wheel of Fortune was an Australian television game show, produced by Grundy Television. It aired on the Seven Network from 1981 to 2006. After Wheel of Fortune ended the format was revived by the Nine Network in 2008 as Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune.

An earlier show of the same title had been broadcast on the Nine Network. This version had been developed by Reg Grundy as a radio game show before it transferred to television in 1959.

History

In 1981, Reg Grundy Organisation purchased the rights to Merv Griffin's U.S. game show Wheel of Fortune and promptly created a very faithful reproduction of the American series, as they had done with many other game shows. The new show began airing on the Seven Network on July 21, 1981, and was produced from ADS-7. The show's production moved to SAS-7 when ADS-7 and SAS-10 swapped callsigns and network affiliations at the end of 1987. In 1996, Wheel of Fortune relocated to ATN-7, where it remained until the series' cancellation in 2006.

In 2005, the show was rested, with Seven filling its 5pm timeslot with reruns of M*A*S*H. On November 11, 2005, Seven officially announced the show's return with film shoot starting in December 2005 with Larry Emdur, Laura Csortan to host, and John Deeks to announce with the show to be relocated from Channel Seven's Epping headquarters to the network's main Darling Harbour production studios.

One week after the final 2006 episode, the 10.00am timeslot was filled with 20 previously unaired episodes, after which Wheel never returned to the schedule.

The original Australian series titled Wheel of Fortune began on the Nine Network in 1959. It was quite different to this series, having been derived from a radio quiz show.

Mid-1996 controversy

As part of an attempted revamp, the program relocated from Adelaide to the Seven Network's Sydney studios. Along with a new set, new music, faster game format and modified rules, John Burgess was sacked from his twelve-year stint as host and replaced by Tony Barber. By the time that Burgess' final episode went to air, it had become common knowledge that the show had relocated and that changes would occur. A sign that drama would follow came at the end of Burgess' last episode on July 12 1996, when he stated that the show was moving to Sydney, that it would still be exactly the same despite a new location and, that "Not everyone is coming with us to Sydney, and we are going to miss a lot of people."

The following Monday, Tony Barber began as host, amid much controversy. Beside the fact that viewers did not appreciate the fact that John Burgess was sacked without a chance to say his goodbyes on air, viewers had trouble accepting the new rules, faster pace and Barber's energetic hosting style. Additionally, John Burgess had made media appearances telling of how he had been badly treated and only found out about his sacking accidentally. Ratings quickly declined, and at the year's end the Seven Network issued carefully-worded press releases in which Barber announced that he was resigning for the good of the show. In his memoir Who Am I, Barber later explained that he was removed from the position by the network, and was offered future projects with the network in exchange for agreeing to the press release. John Burgess has claimed on many occasions that he was offered the job back with a heavy pay raise and declined, but the Seven Network denied this story. John was quickly given a contract by the Nine Network to host the game show Catch Phrase (later re-titled Burgo's Catch Phrase) that would be Wheel of Fortune's rival for a few years.

Adding to the drama, Adriana Xenides, who had been with the show since it began and had never missed an episode, fell sick - ultimately suffering from depression and what she called a "physical breakdown".

Tony Barber appeared at the start of the 1997 season premiere to introduce and hand the show over to Rob Elliott.

The 5,000th episode (2006)

On 21 March 2006, "Australia's favorite game" celebrated a major milestone, as its 5,000th episode went to air on the Seven Network. An extra element was added to the special show: the chance to win $5,000 in cash. Two yellow "$5,000" wedges were added to the Round 1 wheel. A third was added to Round 2's wheel. If a contestant was to spin it up and select a correct letter, they would have $5,000 added to their score, but to win the actual money, they had to solve the puzzle (in the same way as the Surprise and Mystery Wedges). In Round 2, one of the contestants did spin up the "$5,000" wedge and the Surprise Wedge and solved the puzzle, winning a total of $11,000 in that round. The other $5,000 wedges were removed for Round 3.

The other change in the episode saw Round 4's Top Dollar doubled to $5,000, using the same yellow wedge as in the previous rounds. However, since the bell had sounded in Round 3 for the rest of the show to be the catch-up, host Larry was the only person to spin the wheel and landed on $770 (the second highest value in Round 4). There was no change to the Bonus Round.

Wheel ends on Seven Network

On June 18, 2006, the Seven Network officially announced that they had stopped broadcasting of the show with the last episode airing on July 28, 2006, just one week after celebrating 25 years on Australian television. The final episode was filmed on June 23, 2006 at Channel 7's Epping studios. In the final episode for 2006, Larry Emdur had his last spin of the wheel and the $2500 was won. Edith Bliss, former field reporter for Simon Townsend's Wonder World, won the title of Undefeated Champion of Wheel Of Fortune at the end of the 5093rd and final episode for Channel Seven. The following Monday after the final episode, M*A*S*H reruns returned to the Seven Network timeslot followed by at 5:30pm, Melbourne-based Deal Or No Deal.

Nine Network revival

The Nine Network bought the rights to the series of the former Seven Network game show in March 2008 with former National Bingo Night host and former Home And Away star Tim Campbell also switching from the Seven Network to the Nine Network to front the show. Kelly Landry co-hosted the show. The revived version was titled Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune, with the show receiving a major revamp with the sets and graphics. The revived version was produced by Channel Nine Melbourne.^[1][2] However, after five weeks of struggling ratings, the show was cancelled due to the low ratings against the Seven Network's Deal Or No Deal.^[3]

Gameplay

The Australian rules are similar to the American version, but with several differences:

• Scoring - While the American version & other foreign versions allow players to get the value of the spin multiplied by the number times the chosen letter appears in the puzzle, on the Australian version a player will only get credited with the amount spun; there is no multiplying of instances of consonants found in the puzzle. Also, the wheel in the Australian version had different values on the wheel; unlike the American version (where values were multiples of $50), values were instead various multiples of $5.

• Buying a Vowel - Vowels cost $50, and can only be purchased prior to spinning the wheel.

• Securing Money - Long before the show's 1996 re-vamp and John Burgess's retirement from the show, contestants who solved a puzzle would 'spend' their winnings in the 'prize shop'. The amount that they were allowed to 'spend' would be any score won since the start of the game. For contestants who solved more than one puzzle per episode, the amount that they could 'spend' would be the amount that they had won since the last time they had visited the 'prize shop'. Once scores were 'spent' on prizes they would be secured, and unaffected by a Bankrupt in a future round. While the 'prize shop' has not been on the show since Tony Barber took over as host and the whole production moved from Adelaide to Sydney (although beginning with Rob Elliott's arrival, the winner of each round got to pick one of two bonus prizes as a sort of throwback to the 'shopping' era), the concept of 'securing money' when solving puzzles is still used (the rule was abandoned in mid 1996, but returned at the start of 1997). How this works is that when a player solves a puzzle, any money they have in the bank is safe and cannot be taken away. In addition, any money that is not won in a round is not taken away, but is susceptible to a Bankrupt, and that is where securing money comes into play.

Special Features

In addition to the dollar values, there are other features to this game:

• Flip-Up Puzzles - Works the same way as the American Toss-Up Puzzles. It merely gives control to whoever solves the puzzle (no money bonus however). Some Flip-Ups are Prize Puzzles (similar to America but in normal rounds) whoever solves correctly wins a prize related to the puzzle (which, unlike the US version, isn't always a trip). Lastly, when the hostess activates the puzzle, usually the first letter to appear is not the one that she touches first, unlike the American version, where the first letter Vanna White touches is first to appear.

• Red Mystery Letter - If a letter revealed turns up red, it doubles the amount spun (similar to the Double Play in America) (Ex. If a person spins $110, picks a P, and one of the Ps is red, the person gets $220). Because of this rule, the letter that is painted red is always a consonant. However, there have been rare occasions where production errors have made a vowel the red letter. The red vowels have never been picked, though.

• Surprise Wedge (Space) – From 1995-2006, works in a similar way to the “prize space” on the American version. The red-coloured wedge (or red with bold glitter writing from 1995 to the middle of 1996 when John Burgess retired) that says "SURPRISE" gives a chance for a contestant to win a major prize during the main game. The prize is usually a holiday worth between $3,000 to $6,000, but on rare occasions, it has even been the car. In order for a contestant to win the prize, they must spin up the Surprise Wedge, select a letter in the puzzle to remove it and solve the puzzle in the same round. The prize is only revealed when the contestant who won the wedge solves the puzzle. The wedge appears in every round until removed by a contestant.

• Bonus Wedge (Space)- works the exact same way as the "prize space" on the American version & the "SURPRISE" Wedge. The blue-coloured wedge (or gold with bold black writing from 1993 to the middle of 1996 when John Burgess retired) that says "BONUS" gives a chance for a contestant to win a prize package during the main game.

• Bonus Prize - worked the same way as a bonus wedge, except it was given to the first person to spin the top dollar value. This event was shortlived, though.

• Bonus Puzzle - As in the U.S. version, if the solution of a puzzle was itself a clue to another answer, the person correctly solving the puzzle was allowed to provide an answer to that clue. If correct, an additional $200 was won.

• Mystery Wedge (Space) – Two $500 spaces marked with a stylized question mark are placed on the wheel. If a player lands on one of these mystery wedges and guesses a letter in the puzzle, they may either take $500 as normal, or turn over the mystery wedge. On the other side of the mystery wedge contains either a Bankrupt or a prize (usually $3,000-$18,000 vacation). If the player reveals the prize, as with any other wheel prize, they must solve the puzzle without hitting Bankrupt to win it. After one mystery wedge is revealed, that space becomes a normal cash wedge, and the other mystery wedge acts as a regular $500 space for the remainder of the round.

• Speed-Up Round - Played the same way, but unlike the American version, the Australian version can have more than one speed-up round. On several episodes, there have been more than one speed-up round.

• Car Wedge (Space) - If a contestant spins up this wedge, they have to guess a correct letter and solve that puzzle (and they are then half way there). That contestant then has to do the same in one of the following rounds to win the car.

The Major Prize Round

The winning contestant spins the Major Prize Wheel which now has very big prizes on it. The prize that the Major Prize wheel lands on is the Major Prize played for. The contestant is given two consonants and one vowel, however, for every $2,000 scored in the main game. Theoretically, enough money ($38,000) can be earned so as to call every consonant. The winning contestant then gets 10 seconds (just like in America) to solve the puzzle & win the prize. Originally, they had 10 seconds to think over the puzzle, and then had to immediately solve.

The bonus round has sometimes tweaked its format. On one episode, the bonus round was played similarly to the American version, with the contestant getting common letters on the board, such as R, S, and E, and providing more consonants and a vowel. On the 20th Anniversary episode, the contestant was given two vowels.

At the start of its inception in 1981, there were two car wedges on the Major Prize Wheel. On the 1,500th episode in 1988, the number of car wedges was increased to three. On a few occasions, they had a temporary jackpot system, in which the number of car wedges were increased by one each day it was not won. The car has never, however, regularly appeared on the wheel more than three times.

On July 15, 1996, when Burgess was sacked for Tony Barber and the show relocated to Sydney, the Major Prize Wheel was "rested" with the major replacement of an envelope-selection system, similar to the one used on the US version from 1989-2001. This & the rest of the show were heavily criticized for putting a little "spin" on things. During Barber's run, the Major Prize Wheel was reinstated; it was then that the number of car wedges on the wheel was increased to four when it featured a Hyundai Lantra Sportswagon.

From 2000-2002, a new element was added to the Major Prize Wheel. A new jackpot system, coupled with the car, starting at $2,000 and increasing $100 every night it was unclaimed, was installed. As of December 2003 before Rob Elliott's departure from the show and being taken over by Steve Oemecke, the highest jackpot won was $25,000 including a Renault car.

From 2004-2006, The Major Prize Wheel saw the amount of car wedges decreased to two when it featured a Renault and finally a Mitsubishi to the closing of its run on the Seven Network.

Champions

Record-breaking champions include:

• Donovan Newton, $63,110 August 1996 (under Tony Barber's Format)
• Dell Edwards, $68,000 July 12, 2001 (amount unknown, rounded off)
• Moita Lindgren, $72,917 August 24 & 27, 2001 (mathematical mistake)

Presenters

Wheel of Fortune in Australia has had many hosts, hostesses and announcers through its long history. They include:

Hosts

Seven Network version:

• Ernie Sigley (July 1981 - December 1983)
• John Burgess (January 1984 - July 1996)
• Tony Barber (July 1996 - January 1997)
• Rob Elliott (January 1997 - November 2003)
• Steve Oemcke (December 2003 - November 2005)
• Larry Emdur (December 2005 - July 2006)

Hostesses

Seven Network version:

• Adriana Xenides (July 1981 - December 1996, July 1997 - April 1999)
• Kerrie Friend (December 1996 - July 1997, as a long-term replacement for Xenides)
• Sophie Falkiner (May 1999 - October 2005)
• Laura Csortan (December 2005 - July 2006)

Announcers

Seven Network version:

• John Dean (July 1981 - December 1983)
• John Deeks (January 1984 - July 1996, January 1997 - July 2006)
• David Day (July - October 1996)
• Ron E Sparks (October 1996 - January 1997)

Fill-in hostesses

• Kerrie Friend (1996, one week; 1997, seven months)
• Terasa Livingstone (1996, one week)
• Cecilia Yates (1996, one week)
• Sonia Kruger (1998, two weeks)
• Tania Zaetta (1996, one week; 1999, two weeks)
• Mel Symons (2003, one week)

Changes to the show

Wheel Of Fortune's logo from 2004 to 2006.

• 1981: First episode. Studio very similar to the American version at that time.
• 1982: Red, yellow, and green sunbursts were installed behind the curtain, somewhat similar to the red, yellow, and blue sunbursts in the US. The puzzleboard was slightly remodified in colour.
• 1984: John Burgess replaces Ernie Sigley as host.
• 1985: Diamond backdrops are used for the contestants.
• 1989: The sunbursts made their return to the set.
• 1991: Red, yellow, and green cones are used as contestant backdrops. Studio is modified.
• 1995: Show celebrates 3000th show. Set is slightly modified. An electronic category display replaces the trilon on the board.
• 1996: Show moves to Sydney from Adelaide. A whole new set is created, with a bigger puzzleboard, an elevated set, and a slanted wheel. New graphics are introduced. Tony Barber replaces John Burgess as host. The gameplay of the wheel is completely changed
• 1997: Rob Elliot replaces Tony Barber as host. The show's logo is changed. The old rules are reinstated.
• 1999: A new set is created for the show with new graphics. Sophie Falkiner replaces Adriana Xenides as hostess.
• 2000: The CAR wedge is introduced on the wheel. Top dollars are tweaked to $750, $1,500, and $2,500 respectively.
• June 2000: 4000th episode. Four car wedges introduced on the Major Prize Wheel.
• 2003: Steve Oemcke replaces Rob Elliott as host. Timeslot changes from 5:30pm to 5:00 as part of the Wheel Deal hour, with Deal Or No Deal taking the old Wheel slot. The puzzleboard is revamped, with electronic screens replacing the trilons, making the show run faster. Scoreboards are revamped with eggcrate readouts, which were previously seven-segment display. Flip Ups and Prize Puzzles are introduced, along with the Mystery Wedges. New graphics are introduced, and the logo is changed once more.
• 2005: Larry Emdur and Laura Csortan replace Steve Oemcke and Sophie Falkiner as host and hostess. The whole set is revamped. The puzzleboard is given a new look, with a blue border that changes colour, and performs light animation. Contestant backdrops are changed to flat screens that animate during events on the show, such as landing on Bankrupt or solving the puzzle.
• July 2006: The show celebrates 25 years on Australia television, and ends its run on the Seven Network a week later.

Wheel of Fortune in film Angel Baby

The 1995 Australian movie Angel Baby featured Jacqueline McKenzie as a schizophrenic woman who believes that her guardian angel sends her messages via Adriana Xenides. She sees the Wheel of Fortune puzzles as omens and guides by which to live her life. For example, the puzzle 'Great Expectations' makes her believe that she is pregnant, while the phrase 'Worst Case Scenario' is a message of doom. The woman, Kate, keeps a shrine to Adriana in her home, and is distraught when Wheel of Fortune is put on hiatus and she has no way of communicating with her angel.

Special Wheel of Fortune material was recorded for the movie, with John Burgess, Adriana Xenides and John Deeks playing themselves. The movie won McKenzie an Australian Film Institute award for best actress

References

External links

• Brand New Upcoming Wheel Of Fortune Ninemsn website
• Wheel of Fortune at the National Film and Sound Archive