Except for a week of substituting for an ill Monty Hall on "Let's Make a Deal" in early 1985 and an unsold Bob Stewart pilot for ABC called "$50,000 a Minute", Edwards remained largely inactive on the national television scene. This changed with his next two hosting gigs, which were his longest. In November 1985, Edwards replaced Chuck Woolery as the host of the California Lottery's weekly game show "The Big Spin", which he would host for ten years, mostly from the lottery's Sacramento headquarters. Then, in 1986, Edwards was called on by Stewart yet again, this time to replace Blake Emmons as host of its Montreal-based revival of "Chain Reaction" (which aired in the US on the USA Network). He would do this until the series was cancelled in 1991 and would commute between the United States and Canada during this time. During this time, Edwards would also take the job as host of a revival of "Jackpot" for syndication in 1989.