''Wheel of Fortune'' is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

television

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

that was last hosted by

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

Jason Gunn Jason Kenneth Gunn (born 26 December 1968) is a New Zealand television and radio personality. He is known for ''The Son of a Gunn Show, What Now, Dancing with the Stars, Wheel of Fortune'', and ''The Rich List'', and also afternoon shows on rad ...

and co-host Sonia Gray. It was broadcast on TV2 from 1991 to 1996 and on TV ONE from 2008 to 2009.

History

1991–1996 original

The original New Zealand version of the popular American game show Wheel of Fortune was first broadcast in February 1991, on TVNZ channel TV2, at 5:30pm. The show, which was heavily modeled after Australia's version, was originally hosted by Phillip Leishman with co-host Lana Coc-Kroft, along with Grant Walker (also doing New Zealand's version of ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being t ...

'' at the time) as announcer.

Simon Barnett Simon Barnett (born 23 March 1967) is a radio and television host and presenter in New Zealand. Career Barnett hosted ''Clash of the Codes'', a television programme in the 1990s where sportspeople participated in various physical challenges. He ...

became the new host in March 1996. During its time the show aired on various time slots and switched between TV ONE and TV2; at the show's peak it aired in prime time on TV ONE at 7:00pm, a time slot previously used to screen

, but moved off this slot in 1995 when TV ONE extended their news to a one-hour show followed by

Holmes Holmes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Holmes (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective * Holmes (given name), a list of people * Gordon Holmes, a penname used by Louis Trac ...

. After moving to TV2 in a 6:00pm time slot the show was ultimately axed in May 1996 as the show could not compete with the 6pm news shows on TV ONE and TV3. NewZealandWheel2008

2008–2009 return

On 14 April 2008 the New Zealand version of Wheel of Fortune returned again to TVNZ channel TV ONE. The show returned with new hosts

and Sonia Gray. The show now airs at 5:30 pm local time. At the conclusion of the filming of the 2008 season, TVNZ announced the show will return in 2009 bigger and better. Additionally, Jason Gunn officially announced that his co-host Sonia Gray was pregnant with twins and that she would return to co-host the show after her pregnancy. Greer Robson temporarily took Sonia's role on the show until she returned on 2 May 2009. It was announced on 2 May 2009 that the series was being cancelled after only one year on air. The reasons given by TVNZ for the cancellation were lower ratings than the previous season, decreased advertising revenue and the high cost of producing the show. Lower ratings may have resulted after the reformatting of the show interrupted its flow due to an increased emphasis on 'Speed Digits'. The last show was screened on 2 May 2009.

David Tua incident

One notable episode which appears from time to time in blooper specials was boxer David Tua's game on October 10, 1992: at one point, he asked for P when buying a vowel; at another, he tried to buy a consonant. He was also believed to have tried to call "O for awesome" which went on to become a famous quotable saying in New Zealand, although the main problem was that he was supposed to call a consonant.

References

{{Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune (franchise) New Zealand game shows TVNZ 1 original programming TVNZ 2 original programming 1991 New Zealand television series debuts 1996 New Zealand television series endings 2008 New Zealand television series debuts 2009 New Zealand television series endings 1990s New Zealand television series Roulette and wheel games New Zealand television series based on American television series