An e-commerce manager who lives in Long Beach will be among the contestants on Sunday evening’s episode of “Supermarket Sweep,” which will air at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Kevin Land became a contestant thanks to a former girlfriend, Hana Nobel, a freelance writer from Marlton, New Jersey who often writes about food. Land and Nobel are teammates on the game show hosted by former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Leslie Jones.
“She loved watching the show as a kid on Pax TV,” Land told City News Service. “She also loves grocery shopping and running around the supermarket at fast speeds without crowds and without getting in trouble is one of her dreams.
“Truly, doing the Super Sweep is on her bucket list and it’s so rare people get to accomplish their childhood goals.”
In the “Super Sweep” a team races against the clock to find five designated products that will earn them $100,000. The “Super Sweep” top prize was $5,000 when it aired on Pax TV from 2000-03.
Nobel saw on Facebook that “Supermarket Sweep” was being revived and “looking for exes” and called Land. The two were selected as contestants after submitting audition videos, with Land Hula-Hooping in his.
On the show, two-player teams race around what ABC described as a “whimsical grocery store” built for the series at The Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Air Center, hoping to get the highest cart total value so they can play for $100,000.
Land and Nobel will competed as Team Artichoke.
“Since we are exes, we thought it was fitting that artichokes have hearts but our relationship choked,” Nobel said.
Land and Nobel both wear food-themed outfits on the episode, Land a pineapple shirt and Nobel a banana jumpsuit.
“Supermarket Sweep” begins with the “Mini Sweep” in which, upon solving a riddle, a player selected from each team runs through the supermarket to find a correlating product. The first person to grab the specially marked item wins some extra time and cash for the “Big Sweep.”
Three minigames follow, testing contestants’ knowledge of a variety of grocery items.
The next round is the “Big Sweep” where one player from each team races through the aisles trying to grab as many high-priced items as he or she can, seeking the biggest total to be able to advance to the “Super Sweep.”
Contestants can take a maximum of three of any item in the store except for items over $100, where there is a limit of one.
Each “Supermarket Sweep” episode honors a grocery store employee who has been on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Sunday’s “Employee of the Week” is Nichole Ivaska, who works in the floral department of a grocery store in Vashon, Washington.
Sunday’s episode also includes encourages people to vote.
Ninety-five pallets of perishable and non-perishable food used on “Supermarket Sweep” were donated to Los Angeles-area charities including the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the Los Angeles Mission and Downtown Women’s Shelter.
The majority of the show’s meats went to the Rancho Wildlife Foundation which operates a wildlife sanctuary in Silverado, an unincorporated area located in the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County.
A large assortment of the show’s pet food and pet supplies were donated to the Toluca Lake-based pet adoption service, The Rescue Train.
Sunday’s episode can be viewed on demand and on Hulu beginning Monday.