UPDATE
Apr 6, 2024 7:45 AM CDT
We can now officially prepare for our goodbyes to Pat Sajak. Deadline and TVLine confirm that the airdate for Sajak's final spin as Wheel of Fortune host will be Friday, June 7. That last episode—which taped on Friday and is titled "Thanks for the Memories," according to Rotten Tomatoes—will also serve as the finale for the program's 41st season, per People. The 77-year-old Sajak will still act as a consultant for the show for three years. Ryan Seacrest, meanwhile, will be taking over as the new Wheel host. As for co-host and letter-turner Vanna White, she'd considered leaving with Sajak, but she's now set to stay on through the 2025-26 season. "It's like, 'I just don't know if I can do this without you,' but I thought about it and I'm not ready to retire, so I am staying on,'" she told People in October 2023.
Jun 13, 2023 12:00 AM CDT
After more than four decades, Pat Sajak's time hosting Wheel of Fortune is coming to a close. Sajak, who launched his career on the game show in 1981, announced Monday that the series' upcoming 41st season will be his last, Deadline reports. "It's been a wonderful ride, and I'll have more to say in the coming months," he says in a statement. "Many thanks to you all. If nothing else, it'll keep the clickbait sites busy!" Sajak said last year, when asked how much longer he wanted to host, "I'd like to leave before people tune in, look at me, and say, 'Ooh, what happened to him?'" He also said of himself and Vanna White—who, along with Sajak, signed a contract extension in 2021 to take her through the 2023-24 season—"I wouldn't bet on seeing us in 10 years."
Sajak had hosted a couple of other unscripted game shows when Wheel creator Merv Griffin tapped him to replace Chuck Woolery as host. Sajak hosted the daytime version of the show from 1981-89 and in 1983 started hosting the nighttime version, Variety reports. He's won three Daytime Emmy Awards for his work on the show, as well as the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award he received from the TV Academy. And in 2018, he passed Bob Barker of The Price Is Right to become the longest-running game show host. Sajak will act as a consultant on Wheel for three years after he stops hosting. The 41st season premieres in September, CNN reports. (More Wheel of Fortune stories.)
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