The sudden death of Dale Winton has led many TV fans to reflect on the various memorable television moments he provided.
Throughout his career, Dale was always on hand to steer the ship on some of the most irreverent and off-the-wall shows that British TV has had to offer, which he pulled off in his signature style of taking things just seriously enough, but always with a touch of fun.
Here are just some of the most weird and wonderful TV moments that Dale was responsible for over the course of his career…
‘Hole In The Wall’
A load of celebrities - led by Darren Gough and ‘Strictly’ pro Anton Du Beke - contort themselves into a load of shapes to try and fit through a hole in a wall that’s hurtling towards them, ready to knock them into the swimming pool behind them. Oh, and they’re all in head-to-toe lyrca.
Who else could you possibly get to host but Dale, whose cries of “bring on the wall!” wound up being half the reason we were watching in the first place?
‘Touch The Truck’
What we’d give for Netflix to start streaming this beauty in full.
‘Pets Win Prizes’
The title’s a bit of a giveaway, but ‘Pets Win Prizes’ was a gameshow, fronted by noted animal-lover Dale, in which pets and their owners competed across a series of rounds to make it to the finale, where their prize would be selected at random by an actual cat dubbed ‘The Professor’.
As usual, a truly bizarre format that worked thanks to its host.
‘Celebrity Fit Club’
Dale fronted three series of ‘Celebrity Fit Club’ in the early 2000s, with a host of celebrities from Vanessa Feltz and Ann Widdecombe to Russell Grant and, controversially, Anne Diamond, competed to lose weight as a team.
Here’s Dale before a “weigh-in”, with Julie Goodyear, Ken Morley, Paul Ross and Kym Mazelle all sitting in some oversized balancing scales.
‘In It To Win It’
It’s ‘Supermarket Sweep’ that Dale will probably be best remembered for, but it’s ‘In It To Win It’ where he really got to show off his presenting chops.
Airing before the National Lottery for a whopping 14 years, ‘In It To Win It’ was the personification of a light-hearted Saturday night gameshow, with Dale switching effortlessly between quizmaster, master of ceremonies and companion to the competitors.
‘Dale’s Wedding’
Proving he was never one to take himself too seriously, Dale took part in a BBC Three mockumentary in which he and fellow TV personality Nell McAndrew tied the knot. You can probably guess the celebs on the guestlist, which included Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Tony Blackburn and, of course, Cilla Black.
‘Trainspotting’
One of Dale’s most memorable appearances wasn’t actually on television, but a cameo in Danny Boyle’s ‘Trainspotting’.
While Renton is going through heroin withdrawals, Dale plays a hyper-real fictionalised version of himself, presenting a gameshow in which he quizzes the character’s parents on the process of coming off drugs.
‘Would I Lie To You?’
In 2012, Dale was a guest on an episode of the celeb panel show, ‘Would I Lie To You?’ in which he successfully convinced Miranda Hart and Clare Balding that he used to sleep with a potato as a way of getting comfort.
“I have slept with many things over the years, because I’m a very old man,” he eventually joked, “But I have never slept with a potato.”
‘Supermarket Sweep’
But, of course, it’s urging people to go “wild in the aisles” for which Dale will always be remembered in the world of British telly.
We couldn’t narrow it down to just one ‘Supermarket Sweep’ moment, so here’s Dale and the Barcodes’ ‘Will You Dance With Me?’