Adriana Xenides was an Australian television personality. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a Greek father and a Spanish mother,[1] she moved to Australia as a child, and became well-known for her long-running role as the assistant host on Wheel of Fortune. She died in 2010 from a ruptured intestine, after several years of ill health.[2]
| (1956 – 7 June 2010) |
After moving from Argentina to Adelaide in her teens, Xenides gained a career as a model and was a finalist in the first Mrs South Australia contest in 1978.[3][4] After being approached by Grundy Television, Xenides joined Ernie Sigley as co-host of Australia's version of Wheel of Fortune in 1981.[3][5] She remained on the show for 18 years, working with Ernie Sigley, John Burgess (between 1984 and 1996),
Tony Barber (1996) and Rob Elliott, and for 16 of those years – from 1981 to 1996 – she never missed an episode.[6][7] Xenides formally departed the show in 1999, and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running game show host.[8] She still holds the Australian record.[7]
Xenides' later television appearances were as a panelist on the talk show Beauty and the Beast, as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother Australia in 2002, and a stint with her Wheel of Fortune co-host John Burgess on Catch Phrase.[2][9] In 1985 she presented the multi award winning promotional film "Adelaide Welcomes the World" produced by Kate Kennedy White and Peter Vaughton for the South Australian Film Corporation.
In 2006 Xenides was disqualified from driving for 18 months and put on a good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. She had been involved in a head-on crash in which both Xenides and one of the other drivers involved in the collision suffered serious injuries. Xenides initially pleaded not guilty, blaming a combination of sneezing and sun glare, but changed the plea after her first court appearance.[10]
In July 2007, Xenides pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while under suspension, and was fined and banned from driving for an additional two years.[11]
Before her death in 2010, Xenides had suffered from an extended period of ill health. In July 2007, Xenides told Seven's Today Tonight programme that she had a gastrointestinal digestive disorder which had caused abdominal bloating to a size suggesting pregnancy and severe pain.[12] [2] Following Xenides's revelation, several other women around Australia came forward to report the same illness and they formed a national support group. Doctors were reportedly uncertain about the causes for this condition, suggesting that in Xenides's case it may have been genetic. She also claimed that the reason she drove her car while under suspension was so that she could get medication for the disease to prevent extreme pain.[13] Xenides stated that she had received controversial shock treatment for her depression which was of no help to her.[13]
In 2010, Xenides told Woman's Day magazine that she had suffered five heart attacks in the preceding two years.[2]
Xenides died in Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, on 7 June 2010 from a ruptured intestine. She had been admitted to hospital days earlier suffering from a stomach complaint.[2][14]
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