BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Adriana Coutsaimanis
Description: TV co host, Australia
Known For: The assistant host on Wheel of Fortune, Beauty and the Beast
Location: Australia
Date Born: 9th January 1956
Location Born: Buenos Aires
Date Died: 7th June 2010
Location Died: Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Adriana Xenides
Adriana Xenides was an Australian television personality.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a Greek father and a Spanish mother, she moved to Australia as a child, and became well-known for her long-running role as the assistant host on Wheel of Fortune.
After moving from Argentina to Adelaide in her teens, Xenides gained a career as a model and was a finalist in the first Mrs South Australia contest in 1978.
After being approached by Grundy Television, Xenides joined Ernie Sigley as co-host of Australia’s version of Wheel of Fortune in 1981.
She remained on the show for 18 years, working with Ernie Sigley, John Burgess (between 1984 and 1996), Tony Barber (1996) and Rob Elliott, and for 16 of those years – from 1981 to 1996 – she never missed an episode.
Xenides formally departed the show in 1999, and was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running game show host.
Although the record was broken coincidently by Vanna White, the American hostess of Wheel Of Fortune, However she still holds the Australian record.
Xenides’ later television appearances were as a panelist on the talk show Beauty and the Beast, as a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother Australia in 2002, and a stint with her Wheel of Fortune co-host John Burgess on Catch Phrase.
In 1985 she presented the multi award winning promotional film “Adelaide Welcomes the World” produced by Kate Kennedy White and Peter Vaughton for the South Australian Film Corporation.
Xenides was married three times.
Her first marriage at age 19 was to Adelaide mortgage broker Micheal Xenides – although divorced after three years Adriana kept his name throughout her career.
In 1982 she had a one year marriage to Adelaide restaurateur Frank Cortazzo. Her final marriage was to Adelaide businessman Robert Phillips, with lasted two years. Adriana had several further fiances, including wine heir Tom Hardy.
Xenides suffered from an extended period of ill health, that included severe depression and anorexia.
Xenides stated that she had received electroconvulsive “shock” treatment for her depression, but it was of no help to her.
In July 2007, Xenides told Seven’s Today Tonight programme that she had a gastrointestinal digestive disorder which had caused abdominal bloating to a size suggesting pregnancy and severe pain.
Doctors were reportedly uncertain about the causes for this condition, suggesting that in Xenides’s case it may have been genetic.
In 2010, Xenides told Woman’s Day magazine that she had suffered five heart attacks in the preceding two years.
Xenides died in Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, on 7 June 2010 from a ruptured intestine. She had been admitted to hospital days earlier suffering from a stomach ailment.
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She holds the distinct record as being the longest-running game show host/co-host for her 18-year run on Wheel of Fortune in Australia.