As Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak officially steps down after his final episode on Friday, his moving prediction for how Vanna White would react to his departure has now been unearthed.
Speaking in an interview in 2019, the beloved TV host, 77, seemed certain his longtime co-star would leave the show with him when the time came.
“There’s a good chance that when one of us leaves, we’ll both leave,” Sajak had said, according to USA Today. “Because it would be strange for any of us to work with anyone else.”
He continued: “I always say I want to leave while the show is still popular and before people tune in and say, ‘Ooh, what happened to him?'”
In fact, Sajak stayed true to his word and announced in June 2023 that it was Quitting the show after more than four decades, with Ryan Seacrest taking his place..
With veteran Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak stepping down after his final episode on Friday, his prediction for how Vanna White would react has been unearthed.
However, White, who has been a fixture on the beloved game show for more than four decades, decided to remain on the show after Sajak ends his 43-year run at the helm.
He will continue his duties with the program at least through the 2025-2026 season after signing a contract extension last fall.
Although White decided to remain on the show, the famous card flipper has made it clear that she finds Sajak’s departure very emotional.
In a tribute posted to YouTube on Wednesday, the teary-eyed star declared: “I don’t know how to put into words what these last 41 years have meant to me, but I’m going to try.”
She continued: As the years went by, we grew on TV, but we also shared a lot more behind the scenes.
“And as much fun as we have in front of the camera, those memories, milestones and life events we share with our families outside of the studio are my favorites.”
It was recently revealed that Sajak will now head to Hawaii to reunite with his old friend Joe Moore, a KHON-TV host in Hawaii, to star in an adaptation of the play Prescription: Murder, via Variety.
The play will run at the Hawaii Theater in Honolulu from July 31, 2025 to August 10, 2025, and KHON-TV will air a commercial on Friday announcing the news during the final episode of Sajak’s Wheel of Fortune.
The beloved TV host, 77, seemed certain his longtime co-star would leave the show with him when the time came.
White, who has been a fixture on the beloved game show for more than four decades, has decided to remain on the show after Sajak ends his 43-year run at the helm.
Prescription: Murder was a 1962 play written by William Link and Richard Levinson, who, six years later, in 1968, adapted it and made it the first pilot for what would become the television series known as Columbo, which debuted on NBC in 1971.
In this regional theater version, Sajak plays Roy Flemming, played by Gene Barry in the original pilot, described as “a brilliant psychiatrist, who hatches a plot with a perfect alibi to murder his neurotic and possessive wife.”
Moore will play Lieutenant Columbo, the seemingly bumbling detective who engages the psychiatrist in a cat-and-mouse battle of wits until the play’s surprising climax.
The play’s cast also includes Moore’s son Bryce (also a KHON reporter), Therese Olival, Amy K. Sullivan and Aiko Chinen.
This will be the ninth play in which Sajak will star alongside Moore, whose friendship dates back to 1968, when they served in the US Forces Vietnam Network in Saigon.
White joined the program in 1982, a year after Sajak began his tenure with the program.
Earlier this week, Sajak sat down for a Good Morning America interview with her daughter Maggie and explained why now is the “right time” to leave.
Maggie, 29, who serves as the show’s social media correspondent, asked: “What made you decide that this is the right time to leave the show?”
“I’ve always said, you’ve heard me say this dozens of times: I’d rather be gone a couple years early than too late,” Pat responded.
‘Could I still do it? Yes. I think I could for a while. (But) there are also other things in life that we would like to do.’
He continued: ‘I’m enjoying this last year. It’s been a fantastic 40 years. I’m looking forward to whatever comes.”
