Say it ain’t so Pat!

Pat Sajak announced on Monday, June 12 that he will be retiring following the end of the next season that starts taping this September.

Pat started hosting Wheel of Fortune in 1981 and began hosting the syndicated version of the show in  1983. He was discovered by the late Merv Griffin while doing weather reporting for a TV station in Los Angeles.

The Marvelous Merv

Merv Griffin new talent when he saw it and he certainly saw a lot of from Pat. He was as quickwitted as a weatherman as he is as the host of Wheel of Fortune.

He took a chance by hiring a former weatherman who had never hosted a game show before. But after seeing Pat audition it was cleared to Merv that he found his man. Of course nobody foresaw that 40+ years later he would still be hosting the show at the age of 76.

Pat and Vanna

Pat and Vanna are part of the American landscape, their chemistry has always been very good. You knew that perhaps they weren’t hanging out together after the show, that they were certainly very friendly with each other and always cordial. And that came across every night.

It will be strange watching Wheel of Fortune without Pat Sajak after all these years. We are not sure if Vanna White will continue to be the official letter-turner of the show at this point. It will be very strange to see Vanna host the show without her longtime partner Pat Sajak.

The Wheel keeps turning

Last year or so when Pat was out for a medical reason, Vanna hosted the  show and did a pretty good job. Of course she doesn’t have Pat’s natural quick wit but who does? Perhaps she will host the show for a while?

We feel that the show eventually will have a new host and we have picked 6 potential new hosts for the old show.

Pick 6

• Caroline Rhea

  Everybody loves Caroline Rea, she’s funny, relatable and real. Plus, she seems like everyone’s friend. Caroline could be a good choice to replace Pat Sajak because she is quick witted while at the same time very warm. So when the contestant blows an easy puzzle she would let them down easy.

• Wayne Brady

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaNW7gPwqtc

   

  Wayne Brady is a natural game show host having hosted the New Let’s Make A Deal and various other shows over the past few years. Wayne’s years as player on Whose Line Is It Anyway? gives him a leg up when it comes to ad-libs

• Ken Jeong

  Ken is currently one of the judges on The Masked Singer and provides the comic relief. We think he would shine as a game show host where he would be the star. Plus, he’s a doctor and that would come in handy if a player needs medical assistance.

• Ellen

  Ok, we know that Ellen might be a controversial choice because of her reputation as being not as nice as we thought. This would help get her reputation back, plus she is very funny.

• Steve Harvey

  Steve Harvey is everywhere and hosts everything from Family Fued to Judge Steve. Maybe he would like to add another job to the list. He’s super quick and nobody has better facial reactions to wacky answers.

• Chuck Woolery

  People may have forgotten that Chuck Woolery was the original host of the Wheel of Fortune back in the day. He lost his job when he got into a pay dispute with the show’s producer and creator Merv Griffen. This would be his chance for a comeback!

• Ryan Seacrest

  Now that Ryan has walked away from his daily show with Kelly Ripa, this leaves him time to host Wheel of Fortune. He’s young, quick witted enough and has the kind of friendly demeanor needed in a good talk show host. The only question is, are we already seeing too much Ryan Seacrest? For a lot of us, the answer is yes.

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