In 1981, the Grundy Organisation purchased the rights to Merv Griffin's American game show Wheel of Fortune and created a faithful reproduction of the American series, as they had done with many other game shows.

In 2010, hostess Adriana Xenides died after a long battle with illness she had been listed in the Guinness World Records as the longest-serving hostess of a television game show until it was surpassed by her US counterpart, Vanna White in 2001.

That version had been developed by Reg Grundy as a radio game show before it transferred to television in 1959. The rights to the show are currently owned by Network Ten, which now owns the video and format rights through its parent company, Paramount International Networks, which holds international rights as the American version is distributed by the company's broadcast syndication arm.Īn earlier unrelated show also titled Wheel of Fortune had been broadcast on the Nine Network. The program aired on the Seven Network from 1981 to 2004 and January to July 2006, aired at 5:00pm from 1981 to 1989 and from 2004 to 2006 and at 5:30pm from 1989 to 2003, and is mostly based on the same general format as the original American version of the program.Īfter Wheel of Fortune ended, the format was revived by the Nine Network in 2008 as Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune, until it was cancelled in June 2008 due to low ratings and following arguments from long-time host John Burgess concerning why he did not like the revamped format, which coincidentally was adopted in the United States later that year and has continued with the modified Australian format. Wheel of Fortune is an Australian television game show produced by Grundy Television until 2006, and CBS Studios International in 2008.

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