Former US game show host Chuck Woolery dies aged 83

Chuck Woolery, the smooth-talking US game show host who later became a podcaster accusing the Washington government of lying about Covid-19, has died aged 83.

Mark Young said on Sunday that his podcast co-host and friend died at his home in Texas with his wife Kristen by his side.

“Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Mr Young said.

With his good looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, Woolery was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.

In 1983, he began an 11-year run as host of TV show Love Connection, for which he coined the phrase: “We’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds,” with a two-fingered signature dubbed the “2 and 2”.

In 1984, he also hosted Scrabble, and simultaneously presented two game shows on TV until 1990.

Love Connection, which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date.

A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about it. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest’s choice, Love Connection would offer to pay for a second date.

Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favourite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. He recalled: “She had so much eye make-up on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, ‘I remember wagon trains.’ The poor guy. She took him on a balloon ride.”

Other career highlights included hosting the shows Lingo, Greed and The Chuck Woolery Show, as well as hosting the short-lived syndicated revival of The Dating Game from 1998 to 2000, and an ill-fated 1991 talk show. In 1992, he played himself in two episodes of Melrose Place.

Woolery began his TV career at a show that has become a mainstay. Although most associated with Pat Sajak and Vanna White, Wheel Of Fortune debuted on January 6, 1975, on NBC with Woolery welcoming contestants and the audience. Woolery, then 33, was trying to make it in Nashville as a singer.

The Avant-Garde, which toured in a refitted Cadillac hearse, had the Top 40 hit Naturally Stoned.

After The Avant-Garde broke up, Woolery released his debut solo single I’ve Been Wrong in 1969 and several more singles with Columbia before transitioning to country music by the 1970s. He released two solo singles, Forgive My Heart and Love Me, Love Me.

After his TV career ended, Woolery went into podcasting. In an interview with The New York Times, he called himself a gun rights activist and described himself as a conservative libertarian and constitutionalist. He said he had not revealed his politics in liberal Hollywood for fear of retribution.

He teamed up with Mr Young in 2014 for the podcast Blunt Force Truth and soon became a full supporter of Donald Trump, while arguing minorities do not need civil rights and causing a firestorm by tweeting an antisemitic comment linking Soviet Communists to Judaism.

During the early stages of the pandemic, Woolery initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus in an effort to hurt the economy and Mr Trump’s chances of re-election.

In July 2020, he wrote: “The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid-19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, media, Democrats, our doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.”

Mr Trump retweeted that post to his 83 million followers. By the end of the month, nearly 4.5 million Americans had been infected with Covid and more than 150,000 had died.

Just days later, Woolery changed his stance, announcing his son had contracted Covid.

Before his account was deleted, he posted: “To further clarify and add perspective, Covid-19 is real and it is here. My son tested positive for the virus, and I feel for those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones.”

Woolery later explained on his podcast that he never called Covid-19 “a hoax” or said “it’s not real”, just that “we’ve been lied to”. Woolery also said it was “an honour to have your president retweet what your thoughts are and think it’s important enough to do that”.

In addition to his wife, Woolery is survived by his sons Michael and Sean and his daughter Melissa, Mr Young said.