TV star Adriana Xenides dies aged 54

Adriana Xenides, once the glamorous hostess of television game show Wheel of
Fortune, has died.
Xenides, 54, passed away in Liverpool Hospital on Monday afternoon after reportedly
suffering a ruptured intestine.
She had been admitted with a stomach complaint, part of "ongoing intestinal
problems", a few days earlier.
Her former co-host John Burgess, who visited her at the hospital on Sunday,
confirmed her passing in a statement issued to the Seven Network.
"It's incredibly sad, she was a great friend and a TV legend," he said.
The former model and television celebrity was born in Argentina and grew up in
Adelaide.
She first appeared on Wheel of Fortune in 1981 at age 22.
Her 18-year run on the show is still an Australian record, and she didn't miss an
episode until November 1996 when she fell ill with a recurring stomach virus.
"I have never missed an episode of Wheel but under doctor's instructions, I have to
take a break from the show," she said in a statement at the time.
"I have had a gastro viral infection which I haven't been able to shake for several
months so it's definitely time to rest."
Xenides went public with her illness in a television interview in 2007, describing
the pain as "so hard it takes you down to your knees".
The symptoms caused her stomach to swell to almost double its normal size.
"I looked as if I was nine-months pregnant, and then from then, I thought my
goodness what's wrong, and they started investigating," she told the Seven Network.
At one point, she said the digestive disorder almost claimed her life when she
suffered haemorrhaging.
"I was dying and I remember being on life support and saying what's going what's
happening?"
Xenides retired from television in 1996 but later appeared as a panellist on talk
show Beauty and the Beast, and the Australian version of Celebrity Big Brother
Australia during 2002.
In 2006 she managed to avoid a fine for dangerous driving when a Sydney court
accepted she had fallen on hard times.
Xenides was disqualified from driving for 18 months after pleading guilty to one
count of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm over a crash in Sydney in
2005.
She blamed the head-on crash on an "uncontrollable attack of continuous sneezes" and
the glare of the setting sun.
The magistrate decided not to fine her because of her "financial position".
"I don't think I've fallen from grace. I don't feel that way," she told reporters
outside the court.