‘Wheel of Fortune’ host Pat Sajak retiring: ‘It’s been a wonderful ride’
All good things must come to an end.
In a surprising move for fans, Pat Sajak, 76, the longtime host of “Wheel of Fortune,” tweeted Monday that the upcoming season of the beloved NBC show will be his last.
“Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last.”
“It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!)” he added.
Sajak has hosted “Wheel” since 1981, while resident letter-turner Vanna White, 66, joined the show a year later.
The show’s official Twitter account also weighed in on the news, sharing a picture of Sajak: “Thank you to the best host in the biz. Wheel of Fortune would not be what it is today without you, Pat. Looking forward to Season 41 being better than ever!”
While he no longer will appear in from of the camera, Sajak will continue as a consultant on the show, Sony Pictures Television revealed in a statement.
“As the host of ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ Pat has entertained millions of viewers across America for 40 amazing years. We are incredibly grateful and proud to have had Pat as our host for all these years and we look forward to celebrating his outstanding career throughout the upcoming season,” Suzanne Prete, executive vice president of game shows at Sony Pictures Television, wrote.
“Pat has agreed to continue as a consultant on the show for three years following his last year hosting, so we’re thrilled to have him remaining close to the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ family!”
Sajak’s daughter, Maggie, joined “Wheel” in 2021 as its social media correspondent and temporarily filled in for White in May while the letter-turner competed on “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”
“It’s so much fun working with my dad…and we’re looking forward to even more fun in Season 41,” Maggie tweeted Monday about his retirement.
Last December, show fans expressed concern when she did a trivia quiz featuring players Sajak and White, which led to her dad crowning her “a good host!”
It left “Wheel” followers wondering whether the show was “grooming” his offspring to take over for White at the letter-turner board — or for her father, for that matter, with one naysayer declaring it, “Nepotism at its best!”
In September 2022, Pat planted a retirement seed when he told “Entertainment Tonight” that “the end is near” for his hosting gig.
“We’re getting near the end. It’s been a long [time]. We’re not gonna do this for another 40 years. The end is near,” he said. “It’s an honor to have been in people’s living rooms for that long. We’re happy and proud.”
In 2021, he also told the outlet that couldn’t foresee himself spending another decade on the series.
“We’re certainly closer to the end than the beginning,” Sajak stated at the time. “I’d like to leave before people tune in and look at me and say, ‘Ooh, what happened to him?’ I wouldn’t bet on seeing us in, like, 10 years, I would say.”
Sajak’s retirement announcement comes amid an increasingly frequent amount of hard-to-watch moments on the show.
Last week, Sajak made a snarky comment to a contestant after they let out a hair-raising shriek.
In May, he made headlines for snapping at a contestant for continually answering puzzles incorrectly, asking the player, “Why are you bothering?”
