Gay couple from decades-old “Supermarket Sweep” episode react to going viral: 'What a world!'

"The world has changed and now we are comfortable and proud to introduce ourselves as married," they tell EW.

As the old intro used to go, "Get ready, because you never know what's going to happen on Supermarket Sweep!"

In the early 1990s, America had shopping-themed game show fever, with titles including Let's Make A Deal, Shop 'Til You Drop, the Nickelodeon Super Toy Run, and of course, the wildly popular Supermarket Sweep. The objective of these shows was to answer questions and pass various tests in order to get a lot of free stuff.

You may have forgotten this bygone era of consumer-tainment, but the internet remembers.

X user Tom Zohar posted about a couple of contestants from a 1991 episode of Supermarket Sweep who presented themselves as "'business partners' who 'design sets for plays.'" "I'm like oh I'm sure," Zohar cheekily commented, alluding to their possible romantic relationship.

Zohar's X post quickly began making the rounds across the internet, where it eventually landed on the desk of none other than Tim Leach, one half of the dynamic duo of shoppers.

Leach posted his own reaction on Facebook, after Zohar's original post had racked up over 4 million views on X. "It has taken on a life of its own in the thread and comments," he wrote. "What a world!"

It turns out that Leach and his co-contestant, Mark Dammann, were a couple at the time of filming the 1991 episode, and they remain together today. A post on Leach's Facebook page reads, "Just celebrated our 41st anniversary. Married in 2008 on our 25th anniversary as soon as it was legal in California. We ran a business together designing and painting backdrops and sets for 27 years."

In an email to Entertainment Weekly, Leach confirmed the couple's reasoning for the label they used. "As for our decision to introduce ourselves as business partners, that was true. We were partners in business at the time, but also we were a couple," he wrote. "We chose to say business partners because of the show being filmed in 1991. Also, there were a few family members who did not yet know about our relationship. The world has changed and now we are comfortable and proud to introduce ourselves as married."

He continued, "We realize there may be some who still do not understand or accept same-sex marriage, but we are happy that so many people have responded in a positive way to our story."

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Supermarket Sweep was one of the most popular game shows of the 1990s, running for six years on Lifetime. The show pulled three contestant-couples from a live audience to compete in a series of trivia questions and "Mini Sweeps" culminating in the show's infamous "Big Sweep," akin to the "Showcase Showdown" or "Final Jeopardy."

Tim and Mark fared well on their episode, but ended up losing to David and Paula, a married couple who went home with a whopping $1,264. Game show stakes have certainly changed in the intervening years.

Related: Supermarket Sweep host David Ruprecht says fans slide into his DMs for feet pics

Interestingly, speculation over the relationship between a couple of Supermarket Sweep contestants previously launched a whole news cycle back in 2020. Netflix had just uploaded old episodes of the series to its platform in anticipation of the short-lived renewal soon to air, hosted by Leslie Jones.

Viewers new and old indulged in the nostalgic bliss of permed-out suburbanites ripping ham hocks and shoe polish off the shelves. Some began noticing similar relics of a bygone time when unscripted television had to stick in a way to a small-minded script.

A couple of "roommates" from Santa Barbara named Kevin and Brandon caught the internet's attention, leading to volley of amateur investigations.

Kevin and Brandon, The Daily Beast revealed, were actually roommates, and only roommates. But like Tim and Mark, their close bond endures today, sealed, no doubt, by the fact that they won their episode.

Related: Ryan Seacrest celebrates first day at Wheel of Fortune

So the legacy of Supermarket Sweep lives on, in the delightful discovery of the love story between two "business partners," in hilarious parodies of the show, and in the enticing prospect of being able to fill up a shopping cart full of expensive items and just walk out of the store.

Tim and Mark's episode of Supermarket Sweep can be streamed on Tubi.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misnamed the contestant. His name is Mark Dammann, not Mark Hammann.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.