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Wheel Of Fortune (2024) brings the classic gameshow back to our screens which hasn’t been on since 2001 when, for a few weeks, it was presented by Paul Hendy, Who I’d long since forgotten about, but I mostly remember it rom the mid-90s with Nicky Campbell, who has hosted it for the longest in the UK, from July 1998 to New Year’s Eve 1996.
Graham Norton is fine, but he’s been around the block rather a time or two and three, and I’d have gone for someone younger, or perhaps, just slightly younger – and potentially contraversial – and gone back to the 1998-2001 presenter John Leslie who, despite the allegations which I won’t go into here, he was cleared of every one, and is long overdue a comeback, as well as the chance to throw a bucket of water over Matthew Wright’s head for what he blurted out live about Leslie on his programme, which later saw Wright basically kicked out and now hosted by Jeremy Vine.
Or, maybe we could have a female presenter for a change? Whoever you suggest, just don’t suggest Bradley Walsh, because he had his time in 1997, and is doing so many other shows – including next weekend’s return of Gladiators on BBC1 – and he has to sleep sometime.
Wheel Of Fortune (2024) is also ITV’s second returning gameshow of the year – alongside Jeopardy! – and like that programme, it’s also filmed at Dock 10, Salford Quays.
Anyhoo, despite this new version running for an hour, there’s no delay in getting straight down to business. I had suspected that it might allow for time to hear about a contestant’s marriage proposal (and I wrote that line before something similar came up later!), or the time they met Elvis when Cliff Richard was otherwise busy, but no, the wheel is introduced with some quickfire puzzles.
I’ll just give an example of the first one being “Things to do on honeymoon” (no giggling at the back), with letters being filled in automatically for the three (wise?) contestants to guess. And, I have to say – sadly, because the letters board is now computer-generated. Hence, no chance for a return of Jenny Powell or the original co-host, Angela Ekaette. I think they missed by not having someone else on set, even if a computer screen does allow for a much faster turnaround on the board, since someone round the back can just literally press a button.
For the second round, it’s actually time to spin the wheel, bring up an amount of money (while avoiding the Bankrupt – or sometimes getting the chance to spin again, or win a prize), guess a letter – or buy a vowel, and solve the puzzle.
And will anyone ask, “Gimme an F”? Or, “Can I have P, please, Graham?”
Still, everyone gets to enjoy a “Triple Toss-Up” from our presenter… Oo-er, missus!
For reasons I couldn’t quite fathom, one of the contestants seemed randomly picked to take part in the Holiday Bonus Round, where one phrase must be solved within ten seconds in order to win.
Either way, whoever gets through to the final round will have the chance to win a maximum of £50,000, but no spoilers here as to who makes it and whether or not they win, because TV programmes are made to be watched, in case you hadn’t been introduced to that concept before.
Overall, it’s interesting to see Wheel Of Fortune (2024) back, even if at an hour in length, it does feel like it doesn’t need to go on for so long, and the ’90s version ran for just 30 minutes and was a lot snappier.
Now, which contestant is an Alpaca whisperer? And why? You’ll never guess… until they reveal it, of course.
These two tweets about the show did give me a good laugh:
https://twitter.com/dylan6roberts/status/1743705796867657900
Waiting for this pair to jump out & tell Graham Norton he's been set up….#Wheeloffortune pic.twitter.com/8KJYkHw6Rv
— Dee (@Deew04) January 6, 2024
Wheel Of Fortune (2024) begins tonight on ITV at 6pm. Once aired, each episode will also be on ITVX. It’s unlikely to be released on Blu-ray or DVD.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.