Whatever happened to Dale Winton from Supermarket Sweep?
Dale Winton was a staple on our television sets in the 90s with Dale’s Supermarket Sweep.
In more recent years, the star took a break from the telly and endorsed Donald Trump! But sadly, the loveable television personality passed away in April 2018.
The presenter was 62 when he passed at home, the star’s agent Jim Kennedy confirmed to the BBC. There is no known cause of death.
“It is with great sadness that we can confirm the passing of Dale Winton who died at home earlier today,” said Kennedy.
“While we know many will share this terrible loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this time of grief.”
A host of celebrities including Davina McCall and Piers Morgan have paid their tributes online to the TV host who defined a generation.
(Twitter)
(Twitter)
The presenter’s career peaked in the 1990s, when Supermarket Sweep made him a household name from 1993 to 2001 – the show enjoyed a reboot in 2007.
Dale recently staged his TV comeback with new show, Dale Winton’s Florida Fly Drive on Channel 5 where he exhibited his warm, charismatic personality for a new era.
In the show, the tanned presenter picked up some travel essentials from Asda before he made the trip across the Atlantic.
“As I used to say, let’s check them out,” said Dale as he walked to the checkout.
During his hiatus from the limelight, many fans have turned to the internet to ask: “Whatever happened to Dale Winton?”
The famously camp, tanned star hosted Supermarket Sweep from 1993 to 2001, and a reboot in 2007.
Dale Winton presented the fan favourite show that saw constants rushing around a fake supermarket to grab the highest value items, and the most items, in a set amount of time.
But since the early 2000s, 62-year-old Winton, stopped popping up so regularly on television.
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Dale Winton: Coming out as gay
Dale Winton emotionally opened up about never having officially come out as gay to his mother in his 2002 autobiography.
He said she had hinted that she might have known about his sexual orientation.
“She heard me on the phone to my then boyfriend, who was very obviously gay, very camp. She said to me: ‘I never want you to feel there’s something you can’t tell me, and I will never judge or discriminate,'” he wrote.
Adding: “That was the point I should have gone: ‘Mum, I’ll tell you: I’m gay.'”
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In another interview in 2008, Winton said he never officially came out because nobody ever asked about his sexual orientation.
“The truth – it’s absolutely the truth – is that no one ever asked me. I did countless interviews over the years and I was always waiting for the question. It never came. It became a game, the ambiguity of it all.
“And I’m not a banner-waving gay guy, because I actually don’t believe it’s important. People never say ‘vehement heterosexual Michael Parkinson’, but it will say ‘camp gay entertainer Graham Norton’, or ‘Dale Winton’ since I’ve officially come out.”
Winton more recently opened up about battles with depression, triggered by events like breakups and the death of his mother, Sheree Winton.
He told Loose Women: “There are worse things in the world, but I had the health issues and the depression. My mum died.
“I did not want to put one foot in front of the other outside the house. I would not leave the house. Five years I went through it. I wanted to withdraw…If you’ve never had it, you’ll never understand it.”
“Nobody wants a camp 60-year-old man.” he added of his dating woes.
“I got called a ‘fat, talentless, shirt-lifting puff’ and I told them, “Well, I am’.”
Dale Winton: Early life
Dale was born in 1955 in Marylebone, London to his parents Gary and Sheree. His father was a Jewish furniture salesman and his mother was an actress. “I was very much my mother’s son,” he told The Telegraph in December 2000. “I was always terrified of my father, and don’t have any cherished memories of him.”
His parents were divorced when he was just 10-years-old and three years later, on the day of Winton’s bar mitzvah, his father died.
Speaking to the Telegraph he recalled attending to this funeral in his mother’s red sports car and feeling absolutely no grief.
Almost 10 years later – just a few days after his 21st birthday – Winton found his mother dead. She had hung a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on her bedroom door and taken an overdose.
Dale Winton: Life in showbiz
After finding fame in Supermarket Sweep, Winton also hosted the National Lottery game show In It To Win It between 2002 and 2016.
Another show, Hole in the Wall, also aired in 2008.
Dale Winton: Endorsing President Trump
Dale Winton came out for a second time back in 2016, as a right-wing Republican.
The TV host last year bizarrely explained why he backed Donald Trump in the 2016 US election.
Winton wrote an op-ed in support of now US President Donald Trump, in which he marvels at the businessman’s “authenticity”.
“When Trump descended the electric staircase orange, coiffed and above all incredibly confident; my jaw hit the floor,” he wrote.
Dale Winton’s final TV
Appearing on TV less and less, Winton talked about taking a break back in 2016 after the breakdown of a relationship.
He said: “I had a bad break-up and then I had health issues. I wanted to withdraw, but you know what this business is like. I didn’t look great.”
Dale’s final TV stint was on Channel 5 this year to host Dale Winton’s Florida Fly Drive.
It saw him travel more than 1,500 miles across Florida and will paint a more personal picture of Winton.
Speaking to TV Times, he said: “I’ve kept a low profile because I had about four surgeries. I had a shoulder problem and a knee problem, so I took a break to get myself sorted. It meant I couldn’t exercise, so I’ve been dieting like crazy, but then when I was asked to do this show I thought it would be fun.
“I’m one of those people who work to live rather than live to work, so it’s been very hard work – I’m used to being in a studio but this is something wholly different! People are going to see me in a way they’ve never seen me before!”
