Chuck woolery, original wheel of fortune host, dead at 83

The hit dating show, which helped revive Woolery's career, was one of the most popular game shows of the s and '90s. Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly , where he covers breaking news, all things Real Housewives , and a rich cornucopia of popular culture.

Chuck Woolery, the original host of

He was also the first author signed to Phoebe Robinson's Tiny Reparations imprint. He met Oprah once. Chuck Woolery, who over the course of his career was a psychedelic pop singer, game show host, right-wing podcaster, and conspiracy theorist, has died at age His podcast cohost and friend Mark Young confirmed his death in a social media post and to the Associated Press.

RIP, brother. Woolery was best known for hosting the hit dating show Love Connection from to , and he was also the original host of Wheel of Fortune. As one half of the psychedelic pop duo the Avant-Garde, Woolery had a top 40 hit in with "Naturally Stoned," which would serve as the subtitle to his short-lived, critically panned reality show, Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned.

After the Avant-Garde broke up in , Woolery went solo, switching to country music in the '70s. Woolery hosted the show until , earning a Daytime Emmy nomination in Due to a salary dispute, Woolery was replaced by Pat Sajak , but in he rebounded with Love Connection , sort of a crowdsourced Tinder in which the audience would help a contestant choose a romantic match from a group of three potential paramours that the contestant would then take on a date.

Love Connection ran until and then went into syndication before it was rebooted for one season in with host Pat Bullard, and again in , for two seasons, with host Andy Cohen. During his stint on the original Love Connection , Woolery also hosted Scrabble from to and then a brief revival of the show in From to , he hosted the game show Greed on Fox, and from to he hosted Lingo on the Game Show Network.