After 41 years and over 8,000 episodes it comes down to this. Pat Sajak’s final turn as the much admired and applauded host of Wheel of Fortune will go to air on Friday.
Partner and longtime star Vanna White has already bid a teary goodbye ahead of Sajak’s final show.
Sajak has helmed Wheel of Fortune since 1981. White joined the show in 1982 and together the pair have joint hosted more than 8,000 episodes of the popular game show.
“When I first started, I was so green,” White said as old clips of the duo played in a video posted on YouTube. “You made me so comfortable and made me so confident, Pat. You made me who I am, you really did.”
Sajak announced in June 2023 that he would retire from his hosting duties at the end of the show’s 41st season, with Ryan Seacrest set to succeed him, as Breitbart News reported.
White will stay on as Seacrest’s co-host through the 2025-2026 season, based on a contract extension she signed in September.
n a recent interview for Good Morning America with Sajak’s daughter Maggie, who serves as the show’s social correspondent, the host said he felt “surprisingly OK” given that he announced his retirement almost a year before his final show.
“I’ve had time to sort of get used to it and it’s been a little bit wistful and all that, but I’m enjoying it and taking it all in and reflecting on a great run,” he said.
Sajak said he is grateful for how audiences across the country connected with the show and made it a part of their daily routines.
File/Pat Sajak, left, and Vanna White, from “Wheel of Fortune,” attend a ceremony honoring Harry Friedman with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2019. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
“Somewhere along the line, we became more than a popular show. We became a part of popular culture, and more importantly, we became a part of people’s lives,” he said. “That’s been awfully gratifying.”
The departure of Sajak comes after plenty of due recognition.
The veteran has been nominated for 23 Daytime Emmy Awards, winning three of them, as well as earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 Daytime Emmy Awards.