Chuck Woolery, host of ‘Love Connection’ and other game shows, dies at 83

Chuck Woolery, the “Love Connection” host and longtime fixture on television game shows, died Saturday at the age of 83.

His death was announced on the platform X by Mark Young, Woolery’s friend and co-host of their podcast Blunt Force Truth.

“Life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote. “RIP brother.”

Woolery died at his home in Texas, Young told the Associated Press in an email.

Woolery was born in Ashland, Ky., and served in the U.S. Navy before attending college. He got his start in show business in the 1960s as a member of pop band the Avant -Garde, whose best-known hit, “Naturally Stoned,” reached Number 40 on the Billboard charts.

In 1975, he was chosen to host the debut season of a new game show called “Wheel of Fortune,” after a rival actor vying for the job appeared visibly intoxicated during early tapings. Woolery was nominated for a daytime Emmy in 1978 but left the show after a contract dispute in 1981, allowing Pat Sajak to take over and begin his 43-year run as host.

From 1983 to 1994, Woolery hosted more than 2,000 episodes of the game show “Love Connection.” On the show, a contestant seeking romance would select a match from among three videotaped contestants, go on a date, and then describe the experience in front of a live audience. (Audience members also got to vote on which of the three potential partners the contestant should have picked.)

He also hosted “Lingo,” “Scrabble” and “The Chuck Woolery Show,” which ran for 65 episodes in 1991.

Woolery was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007.

Later in life, Woolery became a frequent presence on right-wing media. He was a prolific tweeter and later a podcaster.

In 2014, he and Young launched Blunt Force Truth, a show intended to “tackle the toughest issues of the day, without the usual angry white guy banter,” according to its official description. He soon became a full supporter of Donald Trump while arguing minorities don’t need civil rights and causing a firestorm by tweeting an antisemitic comment linking Soviet Communists to Judaism.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Woolery initially accused medical professionals and Democrats of lying about the virus in an effort to hurt the economy and Trump’s chances for reelection to the presidency.

Days later, Woolery changed his stance, announcing his son had contracted COVID-19. “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 of those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones,” Woolery posted before his account was deleted.

Woolery is survived by his wife, Kim, sons Michael and Sean and daughter Melissa. His 19-year-old son Charles Daniel Woolery died in a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles in 1986.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.