‘Supermarket Sweep’ Revival Hosted by Leslie Jones Coming to ABC

Paging Leslie Jones to aisle nine! As ABC announced on Wednesday, Jan. 8, Jones is set to host the revival of Supermarket Sweep, a competition that features contestants battling for prizes in a grocery store, for the network. ABC picked up ten episodes of the series and it is expected to begin production sometime later this year, as Variety reported.

Jones, a Supermarket Sweep fan in her own right, spoke out about the decision at the TCA Press Tour.

“I’ve always dreamed of being on Supermarket Sweep,” she said. “Seriously, I tried out for the show years ago; and after getting turned away, I knew I’d have to take matters into my own hands. Being able to bring the iconic game show back to life on ABC is my ultimate redemption story.”

“Supermarket Sweep is the perfect addition to ABC’s strong lineup of classic game show revivals, and we struck gold having Leslie Jones as the host and executive producer,” the president of ABC Entertainment, Karey Burke, added. “The original version was one of my all-time favorites. I can’t wait for it to be reintroduced with Leslie’s fresh and unique take on the classic supermarket race, which will undoubtedly appeal to an entirely new generation of viewers.”

Variety reported that this will mark the return of Supermarket Sweep to ABC. The program originally aired on the network from 1965 to 1967. It was later revived for Lifetime, where it ran from 1990 to 1995. Additionally, it was revived on the now-defunct Pax network, where it aired from 2000 to 2003.

It was previously reported in August 2019 that Jones would be hosting the Supermarket Sweep revival. According to Deadline, the Saturday Night Live alum will host and executive produce the series, which is being produced by British company Freemantle. Multiple networks were reportedly bidding on the project, but ABC ultimately won the chance to air the show.

This will mark one of Jones’ first projects since leaving SNL in 2019. She originally joined the cast of the esteemed sketch-comedy series in 2014 and quickly became one of the series’ most prominent stars. The Hollywood Reporter noted in August 2019 that the actor was leaving the NBC series in order to pursue other ventures.

In addition to her work on Supermarket Sweep, Jones is reportedly filming Coming To America 2 and an upcoming feature with Kristen Bell, Queenpins,as per Variety. She also has a one-hour comedy special with Netflix, Leslie Jones: Time Machine, which is set to premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Photo Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb