# Chuck Woolery
**Chuck Woolery** (Charles Herbert Woolery; 1941 – November 23, 2024) was an American game show host, singer, and conservative podcaster who was the original host of *Wheel of Fortune* on NBC daytime from 1975 to 1981 and hosted more than 2,000 episodes of the syndicated dating show *Love Connection* from 1983 to 1994.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) He died at his home in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, at age 83.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | Charles Herbert Woolery, born 1941 in Ashland, Kentucky; died November 23, 2024, at home in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, aged 83[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) |
| *Wheel of Fortune* | Original host; the series debuted January 6, 1975, on NBC daytime, after the 1973 pilot *Shopper's Bazaar*; replaced by Pat Sajak in 1981 after a contract dispute[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery) |
| *Love Connection* | Host from 1983 to 1994, more than 2,000 episodes (The Washington Post counts more than 2,100)[2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/) |
| Signature catchphrase | "We'll be back in two and two," referring to the standard two minute, two second commercial break, delivered with a two-finger gesture[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/) |
| Music career | Half of the psychedelic rock duo The Avant-Garde (formed 1967 with Elkin "Bubba" Fowler), whose "Naturally Stoned" reached Number 40 on the Billboard chart in 1968[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) |
| Honors | Daytime Emmy nomination for hosting in 1978; inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) |
| Later work | Co-host, with Mark Young, of the right-wing podcast *Blunt Force Truth* from 2014[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) |
## Early life and music career
Woolery was born in Ashland, Kentucky, and served in the U.S. Navy before attending college in his home state.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) After military service he held jobs including a stint as a sales representative for Pillsbury and, in [Columbus, Ohio](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbus-ohio), work as a wine consultant for the Wasserstrom Wine & Import Company.[3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)
**Music came first.** He played double bass in a folk trio, then formed the psychedelic rock duo The Avant-Garde in 1967 with singer-guitarist Elkin "Bubba" Fowler while working as a truck driver; the group signed with [Columbia Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-records) and toured in a refitted Cadillac hearse.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) The duo's [Top 40](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-40) hit "Naturally Stoned" reached Number 40 on the Billboard chart in 1968.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) After the duo broke up, Woolery released the solo single "I've Been Wrong" in 1969 and further singles on Columbia before moving into country music in the 1970s; he also wrote or co-wrote songs for performers including [Pat Boone](https://www.edgepedia.org/pat-boone) and Tammy Wynette, whose 1971 album *We Sure Can Love Each Other* included his "The Joys of Being a Woman."[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b)
## Wheel of Fortune
Woolery's route to television hosting ran through [Merv Griffin](https://www.edgepedia.org/merv-griffin). After he appeared on *The Merv Griffin Show* singing a cover of "[Delta Dawn](https://www.edgepedia.org/delta-dawn)," Griffin asked him to host a new game show that had begun life as the 1973 pilot *Shopper's Bazaar*, combining Hangman-style puzzles with a roulette wheel.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery) NBC initially passed on the retooled format, but it was picked up, and *Wheel of Fortune* debuted on NBC daytime on January 6, 1975, with Woolery as host and [Susan Stafford](https://www.edgepedia.org/susan-stafford) flipping the letter tiles.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/) The Los Angeles Times adds that Woolery won the job after a rival actor vying for it appeared visibly intoxicated during early tapings.[2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83)
He earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) In 1981 he left the show after a contract dispute with creator Merv Griffin: Woolery demanded a raise to $500,000 a year, the salary host [Peter Marshall](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-marshall) was making on *Hollywood Squares*, and Griffin balked, replacing him with weather reporter [Pat Sajak](https://www.edgepedia.org/pat-sajak), who went on to host the series for 43 years.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) Woolery later said he regretted the departure, telling an interviewer that had he stayed he would be making about $10 million a year.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/)
## Love Connection and later hosting
In 1983 Woolery began an 11-year run as host of *Love Connection*, a syndicated series in which a single contestant watched audition tapes of three potential matches, picked one for a date, and then recounted the date before a studio audience; if the audience agreed with the choice, the show offered to pay for a second date.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) He hosted more than 2,000 episodes over the show's 1983 to 1994 run, and in 1993 he told *Entertainment Weekly* that the show had produced 29 marriages, 8 engagements, and 15 children.[2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/) It was on this show that he introduced his signature sign-off, "We'll be back in two and two," a reference to the standard two minute, two second commercial break, delivered by holding up two fingers and switching them from front to back.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)
**A long list of shows followed.** From 1984 until 1990 he hosted the word game *Scrabble*, simultaneously hosting two game shows on television, with a further run in 1993.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [5](https://en.geneastar.org/genealogy/wooleryc/chuck-woolery) His other hosting credits include California's *The Big Spin* (1985), a revival of *The Dating Game* in the late 1990s, the big-money quiz *Greed* (1999 to 2000), the word game *Lingo* (2002 to 2007), and live stage versions of *The Price Is Right* played at casinos nationwide.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery) The AP and the fan-maintained Wheel of Fortune History Wiki give different years for his *Dating Game* revival, 1998 to 2000 and 1997 to 1999 respectively.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)
Outside game shows, he fronted an ill-fated self-titled talk show in 1991, which ran for 65 episodes as *The Chuck Woolery Show*;[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) co-hosted *The Home and Family Show* for its first few months in 1996;[3](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery) and played himself in two 1992 episodes of *Melrose Place*.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) The Game Show Network's first attempt at a reality series, *Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned*, premiered in 2003, took its title from his 1968 song, lasted six episodes, and was panned by critics.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) In 2003, [Rich Cronin](https://www.edgepedia.org/rich-cronin), then the network's president and chief executive, told The New York Times, "He is the Elvis of game-show hosts."[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/)
## Conservative commentary and podcasting
After his television career wound down, Woolery refashioned himself as a conservative commentator.[4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/) In a New York Times interview he called himself a gun-rights activist and described himself as a conservative libertarian and constitutionalist, saying he had concealed his politics while working in Hollywood for fear of retribution.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) In 2014 he and Mark Young launched the podcast *Blunt Force Truth*, and he became a full supporter of Donald Trump.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83) During the early COVID-19 pandemic he initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus, a July 2020 post that Trump retweeted to his 83 million followers; days later, after his son contracted COVID-19, Woolery posted that "COVID-19 is real and it is here," and his account was subsequently deleted.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83)
## Death
Woolery died on November 23, 2024, at his home in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, with his wife Kristen present; the cause was not immediately known.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) • [4](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/) His death was announced by Mark Young, his podcast co-host.[1](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b) He was survived by his wife, sons Michael and Sean, and daughter Melissa; a 19-year-old son, Charles Daniel Woolery, died in a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles in 1986.[2](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83)
## References
1. [Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83, Associated Press (Mark Kennedy)](https://apnews.com/article/508f37c136ccbc4c8ad48a4fd582674b)
2. [Chuck Woolery, host of 'Love Connection' and other game shows, dies at 83, Los Angeles Times (Corinne Purtill)](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-24/love-connection-host-chuck-woolery-dies-at-83)
3. [Chuck Woolery, Wheel of Fortune History Wiki (Fandom)](https://wheeloffortunehistory.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Woolery)
4. [Chuck Woolery, host of 'Love Connection' and 'Wheel,' dies at 83, The Washington Post (Annabelle Timsit and Harrison Smith)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/11/24/chuck-woolery-death-wheel-of-fortune/)
5. [Family tree of Chuck Woolery, Geneastar](https://en.geneastar.org/genealogy/wooleryc/chuck-woolery)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Television presenters and hosts › Game show hosts and announcers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license