DNA test reveals ex-mayor not Reg Grundy’s love child

A former mayor who looks remarkably like late TV King Reg Grundy has had his hopes of obtaining a slice of his $800 million fortune shattered after paternity tests came back showing he was not the media mogul’s son.

A former Victorian mayor who looks remarkably like late TV King Reg Grundy has had his hopes of obtaining a slice of his $800 million fortune shattered after paternity tests came back showing he was not the media mogul’s son.

Simon Russell, a two-time mayor of the Bayside region, said outside of court that he was disappointed after it was revealed at Friday’s directions hearing that a DNA test of a biological sample of Mr Grundy revealed conclusively they were not related.

“As I said all the way along it’s subject to the DNA results and they have now come back,” he said.

Shattered... Simon Russell looks remarkably l

like late TV King Reg Grundy.

Mr Russell had hoped to join a legal fight in the NSW Supreme Court already underway between Mr Grundy’s only child, Viola La Valette and his widow Carolyn Joy Chambers-Grundy over the division of the massive estate made on the back of TV hits, The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune.

That ended this morning when his barrister Nicholas Kirby told Justice Geoff Lindsay that, “the news is not good for my client.”

Mr Kirby said a biological sample of Mr Grundy taken in 2014, two years before his death, had been located at a medical facility in Queensland.

He said the results of the DNA testing of that sample came back on Thursday and “conclusively” showed Mr Russell was not Mr Grundy’s son.

Mr Kirby sought to discontinue proceedings and asked that no court costs be awarded to the defendant.

“My client’s anxious now as he is not to incur any further costs I ask to be excused,” Mr Kirby said.

Widow.... Joy Chambers-Grundy. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

Mr Russell did not attend today’s hearing but afterwards said on the phone that he would not go into any detail as to why he suspected he was Mr Grundy’s son other to say he bore an uncanny resemblance to the TV pioneer.

“It’s the photos,” he said.

Meanwhile the legal fight between Ms La Valette, previously called Kim Grundy, and her stepmother is heading for a seven-day trial next year.

It has been more than two years since Ms La Valette launched legal action against Ms Chambers-Grundy and her barrister Michael Meek SC told Justice Lindsay they believed the defendant had still not made a full disclosure of all assets and dealings of the deceased estate.

“There is a trust that holds hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said.

The case between Viola La Valetta and her stepmother is heading for a seven-day trial.

Ms La Valette, who did not speak to her father for 22 years, is seeking tens of millions on top of the $250,000 she receives annually.

Her lawyers have argued Mr Grundy was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease when he made arrangements to bequeath his fortune.

Mr Grundy was an entrepreneur and media mogul who made his name by creating numerous hit TV shows including game shows Blankety Blanks, Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right and soap operas Prisoner, Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Neighbours.

The case will return to court to get a final hearing date next Friday.