Host Of ’90s Oddity “Supermarket Sweep” Reveals Game Show’s Secrets

Confession: I was once a little bit obsessed with Supermarket Sweep, the game show that involved little more than running around a store picking up the priciest groceries. When I was a youngster, shopping with my family, I’d practice the route I’d take when I eventually got my chance at the Sweep, imagining my cart first overflowing with hams and turkeys. Little did I know that not everything I’d seen on the show was as it appeared.

Great Big Story published a fun video of former Supermarket Sweep host, David Ruprecht, reliving the glorious days of the ’90s game show and giving pointers those who may still hold out hope that the show will one day return to afternoon TV.

So what did we learn?

1. The meat was fake. Contestants easily tossing huge hams into their carts didn’t have superhuman strength, instead the ham, turkey and other meat wasn’t real. Which makes sense when you consider that the other food…

2. …was spoiled. Ruprecht recalls that staff for the show would go shopping once before the beginning of the season. Then the show was taped for five to six months each year, and the same food was used over and over again. That means you probably didn’t want to dip into that peanut butter.

In one instance Ruprecht recalls the spoiled hotdogs would ferment in their cases, swelling up the packaging.

3. If you didn’t win, you got to keep those super cool sweatshirts. But that was only if you were a loser: the winner didn’t get to keep their shirt, for reasons that were unspecified.

 

While they might not have a pastel colored sweatshirt as a souvenir, the winners did get $5,000.

4. And finally, for the bit of information we’ve all been waiting for, the surefire strategy to win:

Grab your cart, head to the meat aisle, pile in five hams and five turkeys. Then aim for the beauty aisle for five hair color boxes and five other expensive items like moisturizer.

Rupercht says a contestant who followed this plan was nearly always the winner.

THE (SPOILED) SECRETS OF TV’S “SUPERMARKET SWEEP” [Great Big Story]
[H/T The AV Club]