Wheel of Fortune Australia

Upfronts:

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.

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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.

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Don’t forget Tony Barber also hosted the show at one stage as well

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Best forgotten since Burgo was ousted and then the ratings crashed with Tony Barber. Ernie Sigly, Steve Oemcke and Larry Emdur were also hosts.

Tim Campbell also did a version on Nine that flopped.

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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)

Wheel of Fortune seems too "old " for Ten?

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The British version came first and Ten just piggy backed on that.

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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.

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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.

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Ah ok, From the thread I got the impression they were doing it in the U.K. as well.

Terrible quotes from Norton in that press release. It’s an iconic Australian show too - we’ve seen it before, for decades. What’s new about it?

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Won’t be the last time Norton will sound a bit lost about Australia.

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.

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