Wheel of Fortune has been one of the most popular game shows for the past four decades and a lot of that has to do with the collaboration between host Pat Sajak and co-host Vanna White. The beloved pair will both be going down in history as the longest-running game show hosts in American television history.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and that’s the case with the White-Sajak partnership. The game show’s popularity will stand its first real test of stability with Sajak’s retirement at the end of the 2023-24 season – ushering in a new era with Ryan Seacrest replacing him as host of Wheel of Fortune.
Don’t worry, Vanna White isn’t going anywhere – at least for now. The 66-year-old signed a new two-year contract extension that will keep her with the show through the 2025-26 season – meaning she’ll be around for at least the first two seasons of Seacrest’s tenure with the popular syndicated game show.
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With that being said, it’s clear that Vanna White won’t be around forever and her time with the show will come to an end at some point in the near future. It’s hard to imagine Wheel of Fortune without Pat Sajak, but it’s even harder to imagine the show without Sajak and White – what do you think it would look like?
If you were to ask Vanna, she would tell you not to worry – everything’s going to be fine. Not only does she have all the confidence in the world in Ryan Seacrest, but she knows who would make the perfect replacement for her when she decides to retire – Maggie Sajak, the 28-year-old daughter of Pat Sajak.
“I think she’s a good replacement if I can’t be there for some reason. She’s been around it her whole life, so I think she can fill in for me for sure,” Vanna said in an interview with E! News. “She’s precious, she’s beautiful, she’s very good. I think she learned a lot from her father because he’s such a good interviewer.”
Maggie has experience with the show. She has been a social media correspondent for Wheel of Fortune since 2021 and has even filled in for Vanna White twice. She took over the puzzle board for a week in January 2020 and again in May 2023 when Vanna was a contestant on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.
Vanna White Feels Good About the Future of ‘WoF’
When Pat Sajak announced his retirement in June after 41 seasons as host of the game show, many people grew worried about the show’s future – considering how much he meant to the show’s longtime success. And even though Vanna White is returning for two years, she’ll inevitably be gone soon, as well.
In her E! News interview, Vanna admitted there’s ‘definitely sadness’ over Sajak leaving and described his retirement as ‘absolutely bittersweet’ – adding that she grew ‘very attached’ to Pat over the past 41 years (Sajak joined in 1981; White joined in 1982) and it’s ‘going to be really hard for me after all these years.’
Nonetheless, she feels confident in what Ryan Seacrest brings to the table. “He is a kind man. He is professional. He’s good at what he does. He likes to have fun,” she said of her new host. “He even said to me, ‘I’m not trying to replace Pat by any means. I just want to go in and do a good job,'” she continued.
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For Vanna White, she just hopes Wheel of Fortune continues to be ‘one of the best shows on TV’ and continues to give viewers 30 minutes of joy in what is generally a world full of craziness. “There’s so much drama everywhere. You turn on Wheel of Fortune and you get half hour of family fun,” she tells E! News.
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