History Series / SupermarketSweep

* AchievementsInIgnorance: A few times during the Bonus Sweep, the contestants have end up misinterpreting a riddle as a completely different product than what it was hinting at; which ended up leading them to the final product with the 5,000 dollars instead. However, [[NoFairCheating the contestants will still need to solve the riddles of the first two products even if they find the 5,000 dollar product beforehand.]]

''Supermarket Sweep'' is a game show created by Al Howard that originally began development for Creator/{{ABC}} in 1965. The show was produced by Creator/TalentAssociates, who had already pitched another show to ABC, ''Series/GetSmart''. The game, which was broadcast from grocery stores across the country, was simple: in the first round, three players stood behind cash registers and were shown a product from the store by host Bill Malone, then had to guess how much it cost. The player closest to the actual price won that product and 10 additional seconds of sweep time (each player began with 1:30). After a certain number of products, their teammates did the shopping, running up and down the supermarket aisles grabbing food and special items to get the largest total while the announcer (initially Wally King, later replaced by Richard Hayes) did play-by-play. At the end of the sweep, the team that picked up the largest cash value of groceries throughout the market was the winner and came back on the next show, although everyone got to keep their groceries.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: A few times during the Bonus Sweep, the contestants have end up misinterpreting a riddle as a completely product than what it was hinting at; which ends up leading them to the final product with the 5,000 dollars instead. However, [[NoFairCheating the contestants will still need to solve the riddles of the first two products even if they find the 5,000 dollar product beforehand.]]

** A Canadian version hosted by Tino Monte aired on Creator/{{Global}} from 1992 to 1995. There was also a French-Canadian version, ''L'épicerie en folie'', sponsored by local grocery chain Metro which aired on TQS in 1994-95 with host Christian Tétreault.

* DisqualificationInducedVictory: At least one team from the 2020 revival benefited from something similar, because the other two teams took more than their allotments of some items (in addition to the standard limit of no more than five, certain big-ticket items, such as Yeti coolers, only allowed one) and took significant score penalties for it (Leslie didn’t say exactly how much the penalties were). Before the Bonus Sweep, Leslie even straight up told the team that they were the only team that followed the rules.

One fateful day in the [=1960s=], a TV executive producer named Al Howard and his wife Alice had to deal with a rather common annoyance: waiting in a very long line at the supermarket to check out with their groceries. In boredom, Al turned to Alice and said "How would you like to run wild through the market and grab everything you can get your hands on, and it won't cost you a cent?"

* SuddenDeath: On the very rare chance two teams tie after the Big Sweep, the winner is determined by cents. A 2020 episode had this happen.

* ThatOneLevel: Beginning in the 1993 season, a video rental section was added. On occasion, a Bonus Sweep item was placed there, which made checking each rack of that section especially excruciating, because each team had to painstakingly check each rack for the item. One needs to look no forward than Rick & James' original appearance during Twin Car Giveaway for a good example of this.

** An UK version aired from 1993 to 2001 on Creator/{{ITV}} with host Dale Winton, with a short revival in 2007 on the same network with the same host, then a second revival in 2019 on [=ITV2=] with Rylan Clark-Neal.

** In the first taped episodes of the Ruprecht-hosted revival, Sweep totals were given in dollars and cents. Late in the 1990 season, this changed to the totals being rounded off to the nearest dollar.

** On the 2020 revival, a contestant can take a time penalty by visiting a florist or a barista and waiting for an order to be filled for a cash bonus. This takes the form of the actor/actress fumbling around deliberately until the time penalty has elapsed before giving the contestant the item.

* EpicFail:
** One "Team 3", having the 1:30 base in the Big Sweep, decided to go the "try for a bunch of bonuses" route... and got ''none'', finishing with about $5.
** A "Team 2" from 2000 went this route and racked up $700 worth of bonuses, but did very little actual shopping and dropped/damaged a few items. Their final total was $686, meaning that they ''lost'' money on the shopping and would have finished in the red if not for all the bonuses.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_HpCctIK_Y&t=1020s On a 1991 episode]], a "Team 3", this time having 1:40 in the Big Sweep, chose to focus exclusively on the "Shopping List" bonus (finding three items named off by David before the Sweep, for a $250 bonus), and only got one of them, finishing with a grand total of ''$7''.
** At least one team [[http://youtu.be/0xYEYR2xTnw?t=20m7s failed]] to find ''the first product'' in the bonus round.
** During a question for a [[http://youtu.be/QHCNLogsBRs?t=2m2s mini sweep]] where two teams answered it very, very wrong.
*** "When your kitchen gets smelly from the dinner you ''made'', why not try a few spritzes from a can of..." Raid! No. Lysol? No!

** This happened on ''several'' occasions where a team in the Bonus Sweep would ''walk right past'' the next clue they needed to get. At least one team did this multiple times with the ''[[EpicFail same clue]]''. This would also happen in the Mini-Sweep and with shopping list items or inflatable bonuses in the Big Sweep.

The revival, which was quick to note that it was ''returning'' and not an all-new property, ran until 1995. After several years of reruns, Creator/{{Ion}}, then called PAX, revived it from 2000 to 2003. Gilbert initially remained with the show during the ChannelHop, but was later replaced by Randy West.

** Turned UpToEleven in the 2020 revival, in which the equivalent bonus areas (thus far, a flower stand and a coffee counter) are manned by "employees" who dawdle and waste the contestants' time. Fortunately, there is a variant of the coffee bonus where the contestants control their own destiny by looking for a coffee cup with their name on it.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: In the 2020 revival, the second season’s Super Sweep compared to the first. First off, the risk element is gone. As long as one item is found, the team will win some extra money. The overall time being shortened by 5 seconds (95 seconds total originally, but only 60 seconds were dispensed to the team for the first three items, with time extensions of 20 and 15 for the 4th and 5th, respectively) isn’t that much of a difference, since the team lost about that much opening the envelopes for items 4 and 5 anyway. However…
* SequelDifficultySpike: In the 2020 version, the team still has to set a faster pace than the 1990s version in order to win the top prize (20 seconds per item in the 90s and 2000s, 18 seconds per item in the 2020 version. Yes, technically 19 in the first season, but again, opening the envelopes for items 4 and 5 burned off a couple seconds each time.)

* SongsInTheKeyOfPanic: "Nearing the End" variant in the Big Sweep and Super Sweep in the 2020 revival. When 10 seconds remain, the music rises in pitch in a similar style to the drowning music from the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' games (but without setting as scary of a mood).

** One for the producers. A 1991 episode had a bag of Mother's Cookies as a shopping list item. The problem with that: an aisle opposite the checkout stands had a huge display of them ''in plain sight''. Needless to say, the first thing each shopper did to begin their sweep was grab one.

** The 2020 revival ups the stakes to $25,000. Any team that wins it can either take the money and quit, or give it back to add 20 seconds on the clock and find a fourth item for $50,000. The team must then choose to take ''that'' money and quit, or trade it in for another 15 seconds and go after a fifth item for the $100,000 grand prize. If the team falls short at any point, they win nothing for the Super Sweep but still keep their Big Sweep total in cash.
** Season 2 of the revival gives the team 90 seconds for the Super Sweep, with no time extensions or stoppages during the round. However, it’s much more generous with the cash, because there is now no risk associated with going on; the first item found carries $5K, with the money climbing to $10K, $25K, $50K, and $100K for all five items.

* FakeFood: Played straight with the turkeys and hams in the store's meat section, which were actually weighted plastic replicas. Averted with everything else in the store, which was real (albeit expired most of the time).

* SequenceBreaking: The BonusRound forbade it, requiring the contestants to follow the clues in order. If they didn't, it was a NonstandardGameOver.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supermarket_sweep.PNG]]

** Another "Team 3" from 2000 went this route and racked up $700 worth of bonuses, but did very little actual shopping and dropped/damaged a few items. Their final total was $686, meaning that they ''lost'' money on the shopping and would have finished in the red if not for all the bonuses.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_HpCctIK_Y&t=1020s On a 1991 episode]], another "Team 3", this time having 1:40 in the Big Sweep, chose to focus exclusively on the "Shopping List" bonus (finding three items named off by David before the Sweep, for a $250 bonus), and only got one of them, finishing with a grand total of ''$7''.