“I feel happy for him,” White said after the news of Sajak’s departure from the game show.
Vanna White and Pat Sajak on “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.” ABC via Getty Images Pat Sajak and Vanna White in 1986. ABC/courtesy Everett Collection
“I can’t imagine doing the show without him after 41 years,” the iconic letter-turner added.
For the past 40 years, Sajak and White have had plenty to say about each other. They’ve mostly insisted that their relationship has always been platonic, though they have leaned into the romance rumors from time to time.
One of Sajak’s earliest quotes about White is from his interview on “Late Night with David Letterman” in 1986, four years after White and Sajak became co-hosts.
“Vanna turns letters,” he said. “And there aren’t many universities where you can actually go and learn that, so she had to start from scratch.”
Sajak continued: “That’s what she does, but she’s proud of it and does a good job, and much to her credit. Despite that somewhat limiting sounding job description, she’s gotten quite a following.”
Pat Sajak and Vanna White in 1987. ASSOCIATED PRESS 1987
After five years as co-hosts, Sajak finally addressed the rumors that he and White were more than friends.
“In ‘The Inquirer,’ I think we’ve been everything from lovers to feuders, and we’re somewhere in between,” Sajak said in their joint interview .
Pat Sajak and Vanna White on “Wheel of Fortune.” Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
In 2007, Sajak and White recalled the time they did an April Fool’s joke where they said they were in a relationship, leading Sajak to admit that he doesn’t know how they would’ve done as a real couple.
“We get along real well now, and there’s no point in pushing that,” he said. “We get along well because she’s a very nice person, and I of course am a saint.”
“We’re together a lot, and even if you do get on each other’s nerves — and I don’t know that we do — we go our separate ways and don’t see each other for two weeks.”
He continued: “Every marriage in America would be successful if it was lived that way, if you could take this time off. By the time you see each other again you’re catching up on old times and everything is right with the world. I think our schedule would make it really tough to be burned out by each other.”
Sajak also described White as “beautiful” and “charming” and said she’s “as far from a Prima Donna as you can imagine.”
Pat Sajak and Vanna White in 1983. Courtesy Everett Collection January 2012
Sajak once admitted that the pair drank before taping early episodes of the show. “When I first started and was much younger and could tolerate those things, we had a different show then,” he said on ESPN2’s show “Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable” at the time. “Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six (margaritas), and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet.”
He quipped: “Now, if I were to inhale the cork and a bottle of wine I would probably keel over, I’m getting a little older for this.”
Pat Sajak and Vanna White. ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection February 2019
White compared her relationship with Sajak to being siblings in a 2019 interview with Closer Weekly .
“People at home see the chemistry between Pat and me. We are like brother and sister, and I think that is what makes it work,” she said.
“We get along so well and are really best friends. We always have been,” White added.
May 2019
White and Sajak rarely had conflict during their many years as co-hosts — with one exception.
“Believe it or not, Pat Sajak and I have only had one argument in 36 years and that was over putting ketchup on a hotdog,” White said to Fox News in 2019.
She said that Sajak only puts mustard on his hotdogs.
“I think for listening Pat for 37 years, I understood the game and how he hosted it. I was very familiar with the show,” she said to People .
White also said that Sajak’s health was her “biggest concern” when she took on the job as host.
“I was so worried, and it was so strange being on the set without him. I’ve never been on the set without him in 37 years, but the staff and crew were so supportive and made me so comfortable and helped me in every way. Everybody was so supportive. I had a few minor mistakes, but nothing that affected the game.”
March 2020
Unsurprisingly, Sajak was thrilled with White’s hosting performance during his health break.
“The fact that she did it speaks volumes about her,” he told CBS Sunday Mornings three months later. “It would’ve been very easy for her to say, ‘I’m sorry, this is not what i do.’ “
“But the audience was rooting for her — almost proud to see her up there.”
Pat Sajak and Vanna White. Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection December 2022
“He is so funny. He really is,” White gushed about Sajak to People .
“We see each other every couple of weeks for a couple of days. It’s perfect,” the model continued. “Then we don’t see each other and then, we come back to work. And he is always making me laugh.”
White further said, “I think when [series creator] Merv Griffin chose both of us, 40 and 41 years ago, he saw something between us — a brother/sister-type relationship. I think that is kind of what it is. He saw that we would be able to get along, I think. And we do. We are like a brother and sister team.”
“It’s so funny. I can tell sometimes — and he can tell with me, without saying a word, ‘Oh, she’s in a bad mood. Oh, he’s in a bad mood. Don’t say anything to him now, just let him do his thing. We speak each other’s language.”
White also said at the time that she couldn’t imagine Sajak leaving her on “Wheel of Fortune.”
“I don’t even want to think about that. I mean, we’re a team. That’s depressing. I don’t even want to think about it.”
As expected, White had an emotional reaction to Sajak’s retirement announcement.
She wrote on X: “When we started @WheelofFotune who could have imagined we’d still be at it 41 seasons later?” I couldn’t be happier to have shared the stage with you for all these years with one more to come. Cheers to you, @patsajak!”
Vanna White and Pat Sajak. ABC via Getty Images November 2023
“We’re not quite that today, but Ken and Barbie go together and always have,” she added.
White also said that she knows Sajak so well after working together for so long.
“How do you describe being with someone for 41 years that you love and adore? I know everything about him, when he walks in, when he walks up the stairs, if he’s in a good mood or a bad mood.”
May 2024
Ahead of Sajak’s final episode on June 7, White looked back on the start of their professional relationship in an interview with TV Insider .
“[He said,] ‘Calm down, it’s going to be OK,’ ” she recalled of her first day on “Wheel of Fortune.”
“I was just a little old girl from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, wanting to be on TV from the time I was 10. He made me feel comfortable in front of a camera. He was my teacher.”
“I can’t imagine doing the show without him after 41 years. I sum it up as [like] reading a good book. It always has to end. This has been the best book I’ve ever read.”
“I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last show together,” White said. “I don’t know how to put into words what these past 41 years have meant to me, but I’m gonna try — 8,000 episodes went by like that.”
“As much fun as we had on camera, those memories, milestones, and life events we shared with our families outside the studio are my favorite. We’ve watched our children grow up together. We’ve traveled all over the world. We’ve eaten hundreds of meals together. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve celebrated,” she continued. “What an incredible and unforgettable journey we’ve had, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it with you.”
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