Luck of the draw! Pat Sajak and Vanna White are the final instances of cohost chemistry — however, their Wheel of Fortune destinies may have been very completely different.
“I didn’t recommend Vanna, and Vanna knows this,” Sajak advised CBS Sunday Morning in 2020 whereas reflecting on White’s audition practically 4 a long time prior. “Not that she wasn’t lovely and wonderful and personable and all that. But she was the most nervous, by far, of any of them.”
Sajak initially tried out for the game show gig in 1980 and was made host one 12 months later. In 1982, White was considered one of the final girls working for the letter-turning role.
However, creator Merv Griffin was assured that White was the proper alternative. “I did ask him [why he picked me],” the hostess advised CBS Sunday Morning. “He mentioned, ‘First of all, you and Pat make a great brother-sister team. I see you guys together. And you did turn the letters better than anyone else.’”
As their Wheel of Fortune careers continued, the twosome developed a strong bond both on and off the screen. However, the pair’s relationship has all the time remained strictly professional — and platonic.
“People at home see the chemistry between Pat and me,” White advised Closer Weekly in 2019. “We are like brother and sister, and I think that is what makes it work.”
Two years prior, Sajak gushed over his collaborative connection with the Vanna Speaks writer throughout a chat at the Paley Center for Media in New York City. “I can’t imagine being up there with someone else,” he advised the crowd at the time.
Though they appear like a match made in TV heaven, each Sajak and White has hinted that they received’t be gracing followers’ screens without end. The duo mentioned their future on Wheel of Fortune in 2021 as the Daytime Emmy winner geared as much as grow to be the longest-serving sports present host in historical past.
“We’re certainly closer to the end than the beginning,” he advised Entertainment Tonight, predicting that their reign over the wheel may come to a finish inside the subsequent 10 years.
White chimed in at the time, reflecting on her longtime partnership with the broadcaster. “We’ve been together for, like, 38 years and he’s like my brother,” she mentioned. “He’s funny. I mean, we could finish each other’s sentences if we wanted to. We know each other that well.”