This is How You Win Supermarket Sweep

For paid subscribers, something completely different.

In an effort to adhere to somewhat mainstream days off (at least in the U.S., where I’m based) and not fall into the freelance trap of never taking time away from work, I’m not publishing a new story or podcast this week—but I am publishing something a little bit different for paid subscribers. 

If I didn’t write about coffee and food, I’d write about game shows. This is a piece I wrote for a podcast called Blocked Party (which publishes a newsletter for subscribers) back in 2021 about one of my favorite game shows growing up: “Supermarket Sweep.” The series was briefly revived in 2020 before being pulled from the air again in 2022. Within that brief period, I worked out that the show was entirely winnable—and I was determined to show how. 

This article is completely outside the bounds of normal Boss Barista content, so if you could leave me a comment letting me know if this was a fun or interesting read, please let me know. As always, thanks for supporting my work!

Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash

When I was a child, I’d run home from school to watch “Supermarket Sweep.” There weren’t a lot of reasons for a seven-year-old to mainline the Lifetime network—I was definitely too young to appreciate the premise of “Debt,” a game show helmed by legendary host Wink Martindale where contestants competed to get their real-life debt cleared, making light of crippling financial insecurity in a way only the ’90s could—but as a kid, I was obsessed with the grocery store. 

Call it a strange proclivity—or perhaps the result of growing up with the world’s best sandwich nestled between the bakery and the prepared foods section—but my deep love of the supermarket has never faded. I still relish a trip to the grocery store, and have been aching for a day of casually perusing the aisles for months in a way that COVID-19 has made irresponsible. Grab what you need—and get out. 

The reboot of “Supermarket Sweep” has slightly alleviated my yearning. The new iteration of the show managed to keep everything I loved about the original (which is mostly everything, since they changed very little) while injecting it with relevancy and excitement to appease and attract a new, modern audience. Former host David Ruprecht’s array of sweaters might not have survived the reboot, but the iconic sweatshirts that contestants wear during The Big Sweep most certainly did. 

I’ve watched every episode of the reboot, along with a smattering of episodes from the ’90s version that are streaming on Netflix, and pretty much anything I can find on YouTube (side note—if you’re mourning the loss of Alex Trebek, YouTube hosts hundreds of episodes of a show called “Classic Concentration,” which is a glorified matching game filled with inexplicable puns and plays on words). And like any armchair viewer who has watched a game show with a bone to pick, I’ve thought, “I could do better than the folks on TV.” 

I constantly debate strategy and gameplay with my television—so far, it hasn’t responded back. So I decided to write down how I think someone could come out victorious on my favorite game show. 

This is how you win “Supermarket Sweep.”