Dale Winton, radio DJ and Supermarket Sweep presenter, dies aged 62

The television presenter and radio DJ Dale Winton has died at the age of 62.

Jan Kennedy – long-term agent to the Dale’s Supermarket Sweep star – confirmed “with great sadness” that Winton had died at his home earlier in the day. “While we know many will share this terrible loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this time of grief,” she said.

Winton was a TV favourite with shows like Supermarket Sweep and In It to Win It. More recently, he made a show for Channel 5, Dale Winton’s Florida Fly Drive.

Fellow television hosts Graham Norton, Paddy McGuinness and Davina McCall, as well as the singer Boy George, were among those to pay tribute to Winton soon after news of his death was announced on Wednesday evening.

McCall described Winton as a “lovely, warm, kind, sensitive, generous soul with a touch of naughty”. Boy George, the lead singer of Culture Club, said he was shocked by the news, saying Winton “was a sweet man”.

They were joined by the businessman, Duncan Bannatyne, who said Winton was a “great entertainer”, adding: “So young at 62.”

Winton was a household name in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, while appearing on shows such as Supermarket Sweep and The National Lottery: In It To Win It. But he kept a lower profile in recent years.

He was born in Marylebone, in central London, in May 1955 to Gary and Sheree. His parents divorced when Winton was 10 and his father died three years later – on the day of Winton’s barmitzvah.

Days after he turned 21, Winton discovered his mother, who was an actor, had died of an overdose.

His career began when he worked as a DJ on the London club scene, before he moved into radio and television. His big break came with Supermarket Sweep, in which contestants raced around a supermarket collecting items. He hosted the show from 1993 to 2001, and was involved in a 2007 reboot.

Winton moved on to prime-time shows, including The National Lottery’s In It to Win It. In 2002, he released his autobiography, in which he publicly discussed for the first time the fact he was gay.

He had another hit in 2008 with the gameshow Hole in the Wall, based on a Japanese format where contestants contorted themselves to fit through holes in a moving wall. The show returned the next year for a second series, but Anton du Beke replaced Winton as presenter.

In an interview earlier this year, Winton said he had kept a lower profile recently because of several rounds of surgery he had undergone.

In 2015, he sparked concern after failing to attend the funeral of Cilla Black, one of his closest friends. A year later, he appeared on TV’s Loose Women and revealed he had been secretly battling depression after going through a difficult break-up.

“I should have taken myself off the TV but I didn’t. Listen, there are worse things in the world – but I had depression and I didn’t realise.

“I always thought, ‘get over yourself’. But my mum died of it. It exists and anybody out there who has had it knows it exists. I didn’t want to put one foot in front of the other but for a couple of really good friends.”Kate Phillips, the controller of entertainment commissioning at the BBC, said: “Dale was an immensely well loved individual who brought a wonderfully unique and special energy to the many programmes he presented over the years.

“He was extremely kind, brilliantly funny and was a true gentleman. It is incredibly sad news that he is no longer with us. All our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.”