Legendary presenter, TV personality dead aged 83

Chuck Woolery, the iconic host of “The Dating Game,” “Love Connection” and “Wheel of Fortune,” died over the weekend. He lived to be 83 years old.

Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife Kristen by his side, according to the Associated Press. The news outlet received an email Sunday from Woolery’s friend and podcast co-host Mark Young, who said “Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a man of tremendous faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote.

Woolery got his first break as the first host on Wheel of Fortune in 1975. He stayed on until 1981, when he then went on to host “Love Connection”, “Scrabble” and a revival of “The Dating Game”.

Woolery hosted game shows for over 30 years, ending in 2007 with “Lingo” on the Game Show Network.

He was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and coined iconic phrases throughout his hosting career, such as “we’ll be back in two minutes and two seconds.”

After hosting, Woolery tried his hand at Reality TV, the Game Show Network premiered “Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned” in 2003. It only ran for six episodes.

The show title was based on one of his songs – Woolery was a singer in the orchestral pop band “The Avant-Garde.” Their most famous song, “Naturally Stoned”, reached no. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968.

He also worked as a songwriter for singers including Pat Boone and Tammy Wynette, helping write songs such as “We Can Sure Love Each Other” and “The Joys of Being a Woman,” according to the Associated Press.

Most recently, Woolery was a podcaster.

Along with Young, he started the political podcast “Blunt Force Truth.” According to Associated PressWoolery’s topics ranged from minorities who don’t need civil rights to COVID conspiracies.

Born and raised in Kentucky, Woolery served in the Navy after high school. He is survived by his wife, sons Michael and Sean and daughter Melissa, Young said.