Rylan’s Supermarket Sweep will have “a tribute to Dale Winton”

While the 30-year-old will be making his own mark on the classic game show, Clark-Neal is keen for Winton’s memory to be honoured in the new series with a special tribute somewhere in the supermarket set.

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“We’re definitely going to have a nod to Dale,” Clark-Neal told RadioTimes.com ahead of the Supermarket Sweep relaunch. “That was one of the big things when I agreed to do the job was that I wanted to have a nod to Dale, somewhere in the supermarket which we’ve managed.

“That’s all I’m going to say about it, but it was the one thing I really wanted.”

Clark-Neal added that the reboot of Supermarket Sweep may have been on screens earlier, but it was decided to hold the programme after Winton’s death.

“Dale’s passing was really, really sad, and we all just took that decision to say, ‘now’s not the right time to do this,’ because it was Dale’s show,” he explained.

“One thing I’m gutted about is that I never got to speak with Dale beforehand, because any show that I do that someone’s done I speak with them beforehand to make sure they’re happy that I’m doing it.

“But lately we started talking about it again and worked up some ideas, did a little run through and it was a no brainer. It was like ‘why is this not here? Why has it not been done?’ It just seems like the right time for people just to have a laugh and enjoy TV again.”

While Supermarket Sweep will always be iconic thanks to Winton’s warmth and the weird and downright wacky challenges, Clark-Neal teased the show will see a few tweaks to make it more fitting for a 2019 audience – and hinted at a dreaded “self-checkout” on the show.

“I don’t want to lose the original Supermarket Sweep but obviously it’s 2019 so it does need to be updated,” he said. “There may be a self-checkout, but don’t worry, we’ll still have checkout assistants. You can’t have Supermarket Sweep without checkout assistants.

“There will be old games, new games but ultimately the format will still follow playing the game, building your clock, the sweep and then the super sweep at the end.”

But there is one aspect of the programme which is remaining a regrettable staple.

“The jumpers are definitely coming back. I said I wasn’t doing it if we didn’t have jumpers,” Clark-Neal laughed.

Supermarket Sweep is expected to return to screens in September on ITV 2