Wheel of Fortune Australia hosted by the charismatic, BAFTA award winner Graham Norton and produced by Whisper North, part of the Sony Pictures Television-backed Whisper Group, will bring the classic game show back to primetime.
The epic game show will once again be centred around a giant carnival wheel as contestants spin to win for a life changing cash prize.
Graham said: “I’m beyond excited to be bringing such an iconic American show to Australia with Network 10. Hosting game shows is brilliant fun and even more so when you have a giant wheel to spin!
“This show has it all, mixing skill, luck and lots of surprises and I hope the Australian audience loves it.”
The original U.S. show is produced by Sony Pictures Television Studios, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company, and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution along with the format rights.
It’s great to see Wheel of Fortune returning to Australian TV, albeit in a slightly different way (filmed in Britain for example).
Many young people will have not seen the previous incarnation on Seven hosted by John Burgess and Adriana Xenides (RIP) in the 1980s, or Rob Elliott and Sophie Falkiner in the 1990s.
It will be interesting to see who will be the new letter turner.
I think it will share the Friday night timeslot with Ready Steady Cook.
American gameshow hosted by a British guy filmed in the UK but Aussie contestants.
Guess cheaper than bringing him out here and filming it . (Edit… i read they also are filming a British series in the UK for UK audiences too ) guess that was why)
It seems like this is a new trend with game shows with the whole filming in the U.K. since the upcoming adaptations of Jeoprady and Tipping Point are also being filmed in the U.K. for the Australian markets. I guess its cheaper to piggy back on the U.K. versions than filming here.
Tipping Point is being recorded in Australia. I know there was talk about it in the UK initially. Not sure if they did some trial runs in the UK or recorded some early episodes but they’ve definitely built a set here now.
Initial eps with Todd were filmed in the UK. Then they liked what they saw and commissioned a full series.
It makes sense to test run in a country that already has expats over there and you don’t have the cost of pulling the trigger locally and then it doesn’t work. It’s less of a failed expense.
I wonder what the actual point of this is. Gameshows are traditionally a weeknight/ weekly over the year format.
Is there any possible chance that if this rates well it will replace at least the 6:30pm portion of The Project and create a gameshow hour with Deal at 6pm and WOF at 6:30pm?
I just can’t see any other reason to bring this back for what 8 weeks?
The US version has been doing a weekly celebrity series that runs for an hour (it’s on Binge) so potentially 10’s will emulate that format. No carry-over champions, two traditional shows in one episode etc.
The fact that they didn’t get a local host for this, even if it’s a trial, won’t do it any favours and affect the chances of a permanent local commission.
I am confident that James Tobin hosted one of the three non-broadcast pilots for a revival of Let’s Make A Deal produced for Nine by FremantleMedia. The remaining two were hosted by Rob Mills and Eddie McGuire, if I recall correctly. The Tobin pilot served as a test for an international version of the format. Unfortunately, none of the three pilots were ultimately picked up. I apologize for veering off-topic.
