'Business Partners' from Vintage “Supermarket Sweep” Episode Are Actually a Couple of 41 Years (Exclusive)
“A lot has changed since we were on that show as far as gay couples and being on TV,” Tim Leach tells PEOPLE
Lifetime/PAX
(L-R) Tim Leach and Mark DammannFans on social media are registering a renewed appreciation for a couple who appeared on Supermarket Sweep more than three decades ago.
When Tim Leach and Mark Dammann appeared on the lively game show in 1991, they introduced themselves as “business partners” who designed sets for plays. But after catching a rerun of the episode recently, a social media user wasn’t buying it.
“I love watching old episodes of Supermarket Sweep because these two just said they’re 'business partners' who 'design sets for plays' and I’m like oh I’m sure,” the X user wrote alongside a picture of the duo, on Sunday, July 28.
"That show had a lot of "roommates" and "business partners" on it," read one comment, while another social media user replied, "This was my favorite game show as a kid which honestly explains everything."
The post ended up going viral, getting over 4 million views, and the positive reaction was a welcome surprise for the couple, who have been together for 41 years.
“A lot has changed since we were on that show as far as gay couples and being on TV and things like that,” Leach, 64, tells PEOPLE. “So it's not surprising that people have some interest in that and it’s been kind of fun, actually.”
The now-Chicago-based flight attendants — who met in Galveston, Texas, before relocating to Southern California for many years — tell PEOPLE that they ended up on the show because they were looking for a way to make some extra money at the time.
“While we were just getting to know California, it was very exciting to see in the Los Angeles Times, there were listings in the newspaper for game show contestants," Leach recalls. "It is different than it is now, I guess. And we just said, this would be kind of a fun way to make some money. Let's just go on these shows and see if we can try to win something. That was the first one. And then, actually, Mark was on Win, Lose or Draw too.”
In a Facebook post, Leach said the pair got married in California in 2008 and ran a business designing and painting backdrops for sets for 27 years.
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On Supermarket Sweep — which ran from 1990 to 1995 — contestants answered trivia questions and then earned time to race around the grocery store set to stockpile items in their grocery carts.
The couple look back on their television experience fondly, with certain details still standing out even 35 years later.
“People always joke about how fast everyone grabs the hams,” Leach says about the meme, before explaining something people might not know about those items.
“Those hams and all the meat that are on there are frozen every night and then thrown into the set coolers every day. So while they're under the hot lights of the television, they thaw a little bit," Leach adds. "So when you go reach in to grab one, they're about a half an inch of thawed gross ham and frozen in the center. When I went to grab the turkeys, it felt like that and I was like, ‘Oh, just keep going.’ ”
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Semi-frozen meats aside, even though the couple didn't win that day, they feel grateful for the response they're getting decades later.
“We were just really moved that that many people had so many positive comments to make and we're moved and touched by the story,” Leach says. “You tend to forget that being together for 41 years is kind of a big deal for anybody.”
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