| Host | |
| Stu Jeffries | |
| Announcer | |
| David Kaye | |
| Broadcast | |
  | |
| Packager | |
| Lone Eagle Entertainment/U. TV | |
Love Handles was a Canadian-English game show produced by Blair Murdoch that was similar to the American Newlywed Game.
Gameplay[]
Three married couples (including occasional same-sex couples) competed to determine which couple knew each other best.
The First Two Rounds[]
For Round 1, one member of each team was offstage in a soundproof room. The three remaining players were asked questions about their relationships. The first player to buzz-in after a question was read would answer first, then the other two would answer. If players buzzed in before the question was completed, they had to answer without hearing the entire question or any multiple choice options, (if they were any). Three questions were asked in this manner.
When the partners returned, they had to match answers. Each match was worth 5 points, except for the team whose partner rang-in first, which earned them 7 bonus points if they matched. Round 2 was played identically to Round 1, with their partners switching roles. Each match was worth 10 points, with the bonus still worth 7 points.
On some episodes, the first player's answer was shown to the home viewers as a lower third graphic while the partner made a guess. In either case, the first player simply told the partner what the initial response was.
The Last Two Rounds[]
The host showed a written word to one member of a couple; that person had to come up with a verbal question or clue which allowed his/her partner to say the exact word (synonyms were not accepted). The guessing partner had to press a handheld buzzer to respond. This was repeated with a different word for each couple. Until the guessing partner sounded the buzzer, however, the guessing partners from the other teams could say "steal", and try to respond themselves. If the team giving the clue answered correctly, they scored 25 points; a steal was worth 15 points. The teams were encouraged to come up with personalized clues to keep the other teams from recognizing the word.
Round 4 was played in the same way as Round 3, with the partners again switching roles.
The team with the most points at the end of the game won a vacation. If the team played a perfect game (meaning they got every match right, including buzzing in on all six questions in the first two rounds and stealing all four of their opponents words in the last two rounds), they would also receive a savings bond worth $100,000 at maturity; sadly, it never happened in the show's run.
In the event of a tie, the Newlywed Game tiebreaker determined the winner.
End-of-Show Disclaimer[]
“Contestants have been advised that the Super Bonus Prize is a Federal Government Bond which will have a value of $100,000 at maturity. The value will be less if redeemed before maturity.”
Episode Status[]
The series is still intact and many episodes have been reran on Prime from 1999 until 2002, and later on Game TV (Canada's GSN/Game Show Network) since 2007.
Trivia[]
The set had each couple sitting down in a love seat.
The show was noteworthy for occasionally featuring same-sex couples as contestants. This never occurred on its American counterpart (The Newlywed Game) until the GSN revival.