Leslie Jones auditioned for Supermarket Sweep long before the public knew her
We are just a little over a week away from the premiere of the Leslie Jones hosted version of Supermarket Sweep. The long-beloved show, which is has been rebooted by ABC and premieres on Oct. 18, was previously a fan favorite in previous runs.
I know I for one am excited to see one of my favorite game shows return. As reported by Delish, Leslie Jones herself was a fan of some of the older episodes and even auditioned to be a contestant.
Supermarket Sweep is a game show featuring contestants trying to win extra time towards a shopping spree. During the shopping spree, three competing teams run the grocery store trying to fill their shopping carts with the most expensive groceries they can find. The most successful team then gets to shop for a grand prize.
The reboot has $100,000 as a potential grand prize for a winning team. When Jones auditioned, the sum was a mere $5,000. All of this didn’t matter to Jones back then as she mentioned she was down on her luck at the time:
"“A long time ago, I auditioned for the show. I wasn’t working. I didn’t have no job. So Pax channel had Supermarket Sweep and they would literally show four episodes in a row. That was my show. All I thought was, ‘Hey, I ain’t got no money maybe I could get on this show, win five thousand and become famous.”"
Leslie Jones took Supermarket Sweep so seriously that she trained her roommate
Jones saw an advertisement looking for contestants for the show and thought this would be her chance. For a teammate, Jones wanted to use her roommate and even educated her on the show so she would be prepared for the competition. Jones took it so seriously, she even made practice question cards.
It’s hard to imagine now with Jones’s personality and the preparation she put into getting on the show that she didn’t make it. It is unfortunate for the Leslie Jones of the past, but perhaps we would not get the chance of seeing her host the new Supermarket Sweep if she had made it onto the show as a contestant.
Either way, we still get the treat of seeing her shine on the Sweep stage in our lifetime. The new Supermarket Sweep will premier on ABC at 8 p.m. EST on Sunday, October 18th.