Cheggers to blame for Dale Winton

Scouse TV veteran, Keith Chegwin, is claiming he set National Lottery quiz show star Dale Winton on the road to fame.

Cheggers revealed that he turned down the chance to host Supermarket Sweep, the show that set housewive’s favourite Dale on the road to stardom 16 years ago.

Ironically, Keith let the celebrity secret out of the bag when he was opening Tesco's newest supermarket in Liverpool city centre.

The 52-year-old Cheggers Plays Pop star revealed that Dale Winton thanked him for his break into TV. Chegwin said: "I was offered the chance of hosting Supermarket Sweep but I turned it down because I didn't think it was right for me.

“At the time I just could not see myself fronting that show and so I decided not to do it. The producers found Dale instead and the rest - as they say - is history. A few years later I bumped into Dale and he said a big thank-you to me.

“He said: 'If you hadn't have turned Supermarket Sweep down, I would never have got my breakthrough' and he gave me that big smile of his. I'm glad. It was just right for him and he has gone on to great things."

Dale now fronts the BBC's "In It To Win It" National Lottery quiz show, which nets weekly audiences of more than six million.

Cheggers, who appears on GMTV, was in his native city to open a branch of Tesco in the Liverpool One shopping centre in Hanover Street.

He added: "I love shopping centres like this because the parking is so easy. I seem to spend most of my time all over the country hunting for parking spaces. It drives me potty."