In the 1990s, Wheel of Fortune New Zealand beamed into living rooms across the country—a dazzling game show where solving a word puzzle might win you a fridge, a spa pool, or eternal glory. Based on the American original, the local version ran from 1991 to 1996 on TV1/TV2, filmed at Avalon Studios in Lower Hutt. Hosted by Philip Leishman (later Simon Barnett) and Lana Coc-Kroft with prize announcer Grant Walker, the show offered a glossy, Kiwi spin on consumerist aspiration.

But this wasn’t just a syndicated import—it was a proudly local production, peppered with prize ads filmed along Te Awa Kairangi (Hutt River) and nearby parks. For kids growing up in the Hutt Valley, like Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, it “made the Hutt feel like the centre of the universe.”

Behind the scenes was Avalon Studios, a purpose-built public broadcasting hub opened in 1975. Its 10-storey tower dominated the Lower Hutt skyline and symbolised a bold, centralised vision for national media and an important local industry. At the official opening, New Zealand’s then-Governor General Sir Dennis Blundell spoke of television programming as being “an expression of our national identity: of the hopes and the aspirations of our people”.

But by the 1990s TVNZ was squarely considered a profit-making enterprise. New Zealand’s hopes and aspirations were being shifted towards aspirational consumerism and individualism, and away from collective ideals. Wheel of Fortune New Zealand was a clear embodiment of the shift to commercially-driven content, even shirking advertising restrictions of 7 minutes-per hour by incorporating its own ads into the show.

By the early 2000s, most TV production had shifted to Auckland. TVNZ sold the site in 2013, and plans are underway to convert the tower into luxury apartments and demolish the studio block to make way for townhouses. Once a futuristic engine of Aotearoa’s television industry, perhaps Avalon Studios should be considered a lost prize on the local wheel of fortune.

The Wheel

At the centre of this installation is the prize wheel—a full-sized, spin-it-yourself object of desire. But gone are the sewing machines, the BBQ sets, and the new cars. Instead, Bronwyn Holloway-Smith offers a new set of big-ticket items: values like aroha, equality, sovereignty, health, community, sustainability.

The artist chose 48 words drawn from an array of sources, including mātauranga Māori, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the World Economic Forum’s “5 biggest risks facing the world today”. In the installation, 24 segments are on the wheel, with a further 24 hung bunting-style on the wall to suggest alternative options.

This is not a replacement prize list, but a reframing of what it means to “win”. The Wheel of Avalon invites visitors to consider what success might look like outside the consumer mindset that shaped the original show. In doing so, the artist touches on broader shifts in economic values, political systems, and public life since the 1990s. The installation nudges us to consider what thriving looks like beyond material wealth—as an individual, as a collective, or as a country.

You can still spin the wheel. But this time, you’re spinning for something much bigger than a new TV.

The Lounge

In the 1990s, Wheel of Fortune NZ was more than a gameshow—it was a televised catalogue of consumer desire. Week after week, lounge suites, television sets, and encyclopaedias paraded across the screen like trophies of the good life.

It was aspirational Pākehā middle-class culture: own more, want more, win more. Modelled on the American original, the gameshow landed during a pivotal shift in Aotearoa’s political and economic landscape. These were the post-Muldoon, post-Rogernomics years, when state assets were being sold off and a new ethos of ruthless individualism took hold. The prizes weren’t just products. They were emblems of a new ideology: hyper-consumption packaged as entertainment.

Holloway-Smith’s lounge suite and prize video gently skewer that legacy. The vibe may scream ‘90s aspirational domestic’, but the view through those tasteful French doors is a mountain of broken TVs. Items in the room were salvaged from op shops, Trade Me, and Earthlink—a community reuse centre in Taita rescuing goods from the Silverstream landfill.

Both homage and critique, the work shines a spotlight on the lifecycle of consumer goods—and the belief systems that sold them as dreams.

O4OSUM

On 10 October 1992, 19-year-old boxing prodigy David Tua appeared on the celebrity edition of Wheel of Fortune NZ, fresh off his Olympic bronze medal. Nervously, he spun the wheel and said what he later clarified was “O for Olsen”—a tribute to rugby league legend Olsen Filipaina, a hero to many Pasifika kids growing up in South Auckland.

But what most people heard was “O for Awesome”. The line stuck. It became one of the most misquoted moments in New Zealand television history, and a popular new colloquialism—much like a 1990s version of ‘Nek Minnit’.

But despite this potential embarrassment, Tua took the Wheel of Fortune incident on the chin, embraced it, and spun it into legend. Here, Holloway-Smith frames a replica of Tua’s own personalised licence plate—a symbol of reclamation, resilience, and the ways we rewrite our own stories.

Prize Video

Bronwyn Holloway-Smith’s prize video glitters with nostalgia—but gleams with satire. Using props sourced from Earthlink, a Hutt-based reuse centre that rescues goods bound for landfill, she lovingly recreates the glossy prize ads once filmed in local parks and along Te Awa Kairangi. This time, the picnic set features her own friends and whānau, and the carving knife is paired with vegan ‘meat’.

Voiced by Grant Walker, the original Wheel of Fortune NZ announcer, the ad feels uncannily authentic. It calls into question the consumerist obsession with the ‘new’ when objects already halfway to the dump still hold potential value.

At once funny and biting, her video reframes these once-coveted emblems of aspirational Pākehā respectability. Holloway-Smith highlights the lifecycle of taste and the environmental burden of hyper-consumption. This isn’t just about second-hand stuff—it’s about what we valued, what we discarded, and the faded glory of a wooden pāua-shell serving tray.

Encyclopaedia Britannica & Avalon Visitors’ Book

Once the ultimate aspirational prize, a full set of Encyclopaedia Britannica was a regular feature on Wheel of Fortune NZ—a bookshelf-sized symbol of intelligence, success, and middle-class respectability. Today, it feels like a relic: a static, centralised repository of expert knowledge from the 1990s that has been eclipsed by the endless sprawl of unverified internet information.

Here, Holloway-Smith has hollowed out one volume and transformed it into a visitor’s book—an open invitation for people to record their memories and stories of the Avalon Studios. The book made its debut at the official celebration of Avalon’s 50th anniversary, organised by former staff.

It’s a gentle, poetic gesture that collapses the line between archive and relic, making space for the overlooked workers, dreams, and ghosts of a once-thriving industry. At the end of the exhibition, the memory book will be gifted to Hutt City Libraries—a quiet act of preservation in an era of erasure.

The Catalogue

For this project Holloway-Smith watched and catalogued all 106 surviving episodes of Wheel of Fortune NZ in the TVNZ archive, building a meticulous index of contestants, puzzles, prizes, and aesthetic codes (a printed catalogue of her findings is available in the exhibition). In an era of instant streaming, this was painstakingly analogue work. Of the 1300+ episodes filmed, only one is officially available online—the infamous David Tua ‘O for OSUM’ episode—plus a few rogue YouTube uploads. The rest involved pre-ordering tapes weeks in advance, booking a seat at the National Library, and watching them under supervision during weekday hours.

While the shiny appeal of the products had faded, what shone through was the unique and endearing kiwi culture, and seeing local destinations such as Tīmaru, Hāwera, Invercargill, and Wainuiomata represented by contestants in an era where global media continues to dominate.

Despite being a locally funded production, tracing the copyright trail was no easier: a multinational bureaucratic maze led from TVNZ to global media conglomerate Getty Images, and ultimately to Fremantle Media. This is more than nostalgia: it’s excavation. Her work raises complex and timely questions about access, ownership, and who gets to write our cultural history.

Credits

Produced with the support of The Dowse Art Museum and Creative New Zealand.

Curator: Dr Chelsea Nichols Production Team: Gerda Nana, Shane Norrie, Greg Dyer, Nu Vaofusi, & Michael Pester. Curatorial Assistant: Rosa Cachemaille Design modelling & production (Wheel, tier, counter top & ticker): Joaquin Loyzaga & Sam Cotter-Dephoff (Scale Studios) Steelwork: Betteridge Engineering Original wheel of Fortune set design: Norm Cook

Prize Video

Voices: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Pete Jamieson & Grant Walker Music: Luke Rowell Editor: Johanna Sanders Extras: Frances Redpath, Millie Redpath, Johanna Sanders, Britta Jamieson, Robin Holloway, Abel Holloway, & Lane Holloway Director, producer, cake-maker, etc: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith

Additional thanks: Matthew Holloway, Ann Shelton, Duncan Munro, Jacqui Ellis (Earthlink), Renee (Hutt Valley Curtain Bank), Colleen Grayling & Kevin Cruickshank, Murray & Jocelyn Smith.

Media Coverage

Iconic TV game show Wheel of Fortune returns for a new spin | RNZ
Hutt artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith recreates Avalon Studios’ Wheel of Fortune set for exhibition - NZ Herald
‘Wheel of Fortune’ re-spun for a new generation | The Post

Public Presentations

The Dowse Art Museum
Te Awakairangi Lower Hutt
30 August 2025 — 1 February 2026