Vanna And Pat

Icons October 26, 2019

1. Vanna And Pat Affair
2. Vanna White And Pat Sajak Net Worth
3. Vanna And Pat Kissing
4. How Old Are Pat And Vanna
5. Vanna And Pat Age
6. Vanna And Pat First Episode 1

BOTH PAT AND VANNA HAVE brought their spouses with them to Florida. Pat, 44, is married to a woman named Lesly, 26, and they have a 1-year-old son. Vanna, 34, is a newlywed, married to George. In 1986, Gibson was killed in a plane crash. White married restaurant owner George Santo Pietro in December 1990. White first became pregnant in September 1992, and announced her pregnancy on an episode of Wheel of Fortune where 'Vanna's pregnant' was the answer to a puzzle.

Have Vanna White and Pat Sajak ever dated? The two hosts, as mentioned, have known one another and worked together now for almost four decades. From their own narratives, it seems the two are best. Vanna white was born on 18 Feb 1957 and was 26 when the nighttime Wheel of Fortune began on 19 September 1983. Pat Sajak was born on 26 Oct 1946 and was 37 when the nighttime show began.

Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak has had a wild ride to the top of the game show world, but the Chicago native wasn’t always gunning for a role as the Lord of the Wheel. The TV host mostly keeps to himself, but he’s lived a really interesting life that’s taken him from Vietnam to the TV stages of Hollywood. Who is this host that millions of families welcome into their homes every day? What’s his life like? And just exactly how long does he spend taping episodes of the Wheel? We’ll get into all that and more at this in-depth look at Pat Sajak.

He's Got A Great Schedule

Wheel of Fortune is on every day so Sajak’s life must be an unending cycle of listening to contestants guess letters, right? Not so. He actually doesn’t have to work all that hard thanks to the tried and true system that the show’s crew worked out in its early days. Sajak and his co-host Vanna white work four days a week for nine months out of the year, which makes up an entire year’s worth of programming. Sajak said:

It's the closest thing you can do in pretending you have a full-time job. In dog years I've only done this show about nine years.

A day at the wheel works out like this - the first audience comes in to watch three episodes, the crew and Sajak take a break for work, and then a third audience comes in to watch the taping of the last three episodes. That’s six episodes a day.

He And Alex Trebek Swapped Roles For April Fool's Day In 1997

It turns out that gameshow hosts love a good April Fool’s prank just like the rest of us. On April 1, 1997, he and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek traded gigs for the day. While Sajak hosted Jeopardy!, Trebek took to the Wheel of Fortune stage where he hosted a special episode that featured Sajak and co-host Vanna White as the contestants competing for different charities. To make things even more twisted, Trebek’s cohost was none other than Leslie Brown, Sajak’s wife. Knowing that the episodes are filmed long before they’re edited, the audience that day must have lost their minds when Alex Trebek walked out on that stage.

Sajak And Vanna Like To Have A Drink During The Show

Before the Wheel’s crew got the show down to a science it used to take them at least an hour to shoot a 30-minute show. Sajak says that during the ‘80s he and White would get so bored with the show that by lunchtime they were in dire need of a drink - and luckily, they knew a great place to get margaritas, According to the host, he and White were so into their lunchtime ritual that they even filmed a few shows when they were tipsy. He said that he and White would get so toasty that sometimes their post-lunch shows wouldn’t pass a field sobriety test. He said:

So 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's A Vietnam Vet

Before coming to Los Angeles to see his fortune on television, Sajak served in the military and did stints in the Vietnam War. He worked as a deejay for the troops and hosted a show called Dawn Buster that has quite a history. The show was originally hosted by Adrian Cronauer, the inspiration for the film Good Morning Vietnam. When Sajak took over the role he continued the tradition of announcing “good morning Vietnam!” How great would it be to hear Sajak open up an episode of the Wheel with that catchphrase just once? He’s got to still have the pipes for it. Sajak has spoken about how he feels lucky to have been a DJ, but that he knows the importance of providing entertainment for the folks fighting for America. He explained:

I used to feel a bit guilty about my relatively 'soft' duty. After all, I was billeted in a hotel, and there were plenty of nice restaurants around. But I always felt a little better when I met guys who came into town from the field and thanked us for bringing them a little bit of home. I always thought it was strange that they should be thanking me, given what so many of them were going through on a daily basis.

Sajak Hit The Jackpot

Sajak must love his job because he’s got so much money that he doesn’t need to present a fancy game of hangman anymore. He makes somewhere around $15 million a year, which is more than TV personalities like Anderson Cooper, and Conan O’Brien. However, he’s said that he’s not going to stick around forever. Sajak explained:

Well, I'm getting closer to the end. I think once I'm gone, it would be unseemly to keep me as host. I'd like to leave while the show is still popular. That would be nice--to let someone else take over on a show that's still working well. I'd also like to leave before people tune in and go, 'My God, what the hell happened to him?'

Merv Griffin Really Wanted Pat Sajak To Host The Wheel

Before Sajak hosted the Wheel the series was helmed by Chuck Woolery alongside former model Susan Stafford. But when Woolery he asked for more money from NBC, he was out the door in 1981. The show’s producer, Merv Griffin, saw Sajak during his time as a weatherman and knew he’d be perfect for the role. NBC didn’t see Sajak as the host, but Griffin went to bat for him, something that absolutely changed Sajak’s life. In order to force NBC’s hand, Griffin refused to tape more episodes of the show until he had the host he wanted in front of the camera. Not only is that a ballsy move, but it’s also proof that he had absolute confidence in Sajak.

He Says That He’s Only Had One Argument With Vanna White

In the decades that Sajak has worked on the Wheel you’d think that he and co-host Vanna White would have gotten into a ton of arguments -- but, according to him, that’s not the case. While speaking with a publication in Seattle he explained that the only time he and White ever sparred with one another was during a conversation about the kind of condiments that one puts on a hot dog. Aside from arguing over the fact that she puts ketchup on a hot dog, he said that things are so easy going because he has nothing to be upset about. He explained:

I’m very lucky to live in a, to work in a business that they treat you well and they pick you up in limos, fly you around and all that stuff. I’m just lucky enough to be doing it.

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Vanna And Pat Affair

Jacob Shelton

Writer

Vanna White is someone you might not notice behind host Pat Sajak at first when tuning into the popular game show “Wheel of Fortune,” but her earnings from the show certainly command front and center attention!

How much is Vanna White paid a year?

Vanna White And Pat Sajak Net Worth

Vanna has been turning (and now lighting up) letters for contestants for since 1982.

Vanna White posing with Pat Sajak and his daughter Maggie Sajak outside Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood on January 9, 2020

Wheel of Fortune is America’s longest-running syndicated game show and its popularity doesn’t appear to be waning, which is great news for White.

According to ABC News, she earns an eye-popping $4 million per year for her dazzling hostess role on the show.

How did Vanna White get her job?

Vanna didn’t set out to be a game show darling-she came from humble beginnings. Born in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, she was raised by her mother and a stepfather, Herbert White Jr., whose last name she took as her own-White.

White’s birth father, Miguel Angel Rosich, and her mother, Joan, divorced when she was only an infant.

Vanna wanted to be an actress, a dream that didn’t come true in exactly the way she envisioned. White was first a model and pursued her education at The Atlanta School of Fashion and Design.

After participating in the Miss Georgia pageant in 1978 (she didn’t place), she packed up and moved to LA to pursue her dream of acting, but fate would send her in a different direction.

Vanna White starred as Venus in Goddess of Love, a 1988 American made-for-television fantasy film

White first appeared on another beloved game show known as “The Price is Right,” but not as a showcase hostess, but rather a contestant. She never made it on stage but that she loved the thrill of being on TV and the excitement of the game show atmosphere.

Vanna went on from this experience and landed a few small parts in the movies “Looker,” “Graduation Day,” and “Double Dragon,” and some up and coming TV shows such as “Married With Children,” “L.A. Law,” and “Full House,” but never became a regular or the featured star in any of them.

Vanessa White starred in “The Test,” the fifteenth episode of season seven on Full House

White’s lucky break came when she was asked to fill in as a guest host on The Wheel of Fortune in October 1982 and by that December she was signed on as the permanent hostess. As of today, her contract on The Wheel of Fortune extends to May 2022.

Is Vanna White still married?

Vanna’s personal life has been rocky with heartbreak, several engagements, and one failed marriage.

In the early 1980’s White was engaged to a Playgirl centerfold named John Gibson. Gibson, who was also a Chippendale’s dancer, was later killed in a plane crash.

White then married a well- known restaurant owner named George Santo Pietro in 1990. The couple went on to have two children, Nicholas, born in 1994, and Giovanna, born in 1997, who make frequent appearances at tapings of the show.

George Santo Pietro and Vanna White during 16th Carousel of Hope Presented by Mercedes-Benz to Benefit the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes on October 11, 2014, in Beverly Hills, California

Vanna sadly lost her first child to a miscarriage in 1992 after announcing her pregnancy on the show in a puzzle. She and her husband divorced in 2002.

Vanna was engaged after her marriage ended but it never evolved into marriage. In 2004 she got engaged to businessman Michael Kaye, but that relationship ended in 2006.

Since 2012, she has been in a relationship with John Donaldson, who works as a contractor.

John Donaldson (R) and his girlfriend Vanna White at the 16th Annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball on June 3, 2017, in Los Angeles, California

“He is kind, understanding, and lets me be me,” she told Closer Weekly in a 2017 interview.

“The biggest surprise to my fans is probably how simple I live in real life. I’m a real down-to-earth girl. I usually spend my days without makeup, wearing tennis shoes. I love the outdoors. I love waking up early when it’s quiet, going out on the balcony to hear the birds sing.”

Vanna White’s 1987 Playboy cover

White’s public persona pretty much represents exactly who she is in real life. The closest she has ever come to a scandal was when some lingerie pictures she posed for pre-Wheel fame were published in Playboy magazine in 1987.

Vanna And Pat Kissing

She reportedly posed for the racy photos to pay her rent instead of asking her father for money. The magazine is still available on Amazon.

She had been friends with Hugh Hefner, the Playboy empire mogul, up until the time he decided to put her on the cover of that famed issue of Playboy. That decision ended their friendship.

She asked him not to publish those photos due to her blossoming career on The Wheel of Fortune, because she was afraid it would ruin her-the move by Hefner actually helped her career by boosting her popularity.

“I did something I shouldn’t have done,” she told Fox News in 2017. She remembered “going on ‘Johnny Carson’ and saying, ‘I’m so sorry … I made a mistake, I’m sorry and I just hope I don’t lose my job over it.’”

Vanna White’s hobbies are crocheting and real estate

In her free time, Vanna’s hobbies are very ordinary and unlikely to draw any unwanted attention to the star. She picked up crocheting very early on in her life from her grandmother and continues the hobby to this day.

The American television personality even has her own brand of yarn called Vanna’s Choice and has been asked to endorse several crochet books over the years.

Vanna White with her children Nikko Santo and Gigi Santo Pietro

Another interest of White’s is real estate-which she gained second- hand knowledge from by watching her stepfather, Herbert White, Jr, a real estate broker, secure deals in for many many years. Vanna is known to invest in apartment buildings and “flip” houses to make a profit.

Did Pat Sajak and Vanna White ever date?

Over the years there has been much speculation on whether Vanna White and Pat Sajak ever had a romantic relationship. Sajak, who has been married twice, is currently married to his second wife, Lesly Brown since 1989. They share two children, Patrick and Maggie.

The hosts of Wheel of Fortune Vanna White (L) and Pat Sajak are honored by Gray Line New York’s Ride Of Fame Campaign in Central Park on May 23, 2012, in New York City

In a 2019 interview with Fox News, Vanna stated, as she has over the four decades they have spent working together, that she and Pat are nothing more than good friends.

She stated that they have only ever “had one fight,” and that was over her putting ketchup on her hot dog, something which Sajak personally finds distasteful.

How many times does Vanna White clap?

Vanna’s long-standing career on The Wheel of Fortune has made her famous in another arena-The Guinness Book of World Records for clapping!

White is always seen clapping for each contestant as they spin the wheel and buy the vowels-based upon all her appearances it was estimated that Vanna claps on average 606 times per show. That is a lot of clapping and she has gained much-deserved notoriety from her enthusiasm.

Does Vanna White wear a dress more than once?

And what about her fabulous wardrobe? Her dresses are full of sparkle and glitz and she has never worn one more than once. Vanna gets to personally select her own gowns and has worn a whopping 6,500 of them.

How Old Are Pat And Vanna

She only has about ten minutes to change in and out of her beautifully selected gowns in between tapings which are done six shows a day, four days a month. Unfortunately, the gowns are not hers to keep-she returns them after each taping.

What is Wheel Of Fortune star Vanna White’s net worth?

Vanna White has stood the test of time in television-not many people in the industry can boast a 35- year career on the same show, in the same character.

She has made her way into our homes and our hearts with her sweet “girl next door” personality that is as real in life as it is on screen.

With her unwavering popularity, we will no doubt be seeing plenty of Vanna White touching letters and clapping for excited contestants on The Wheel of Fortune for many years to come. Most analysts believe her net worth is around $70 million.

Does Vanna White have a star on the Walk of Fame?

Yes, she was honored with the 2,309th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard on April 20, 2006. Johnny Grant, Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, presided over the ceremony.

Guests at the ceremony included Wheel of Fortune’s creator Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak, and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

Vanna And Pat Age

Alex Trebek, Merv Griffin and Pat Sajak joined Wheel of Fortune co-host Vanna White at a ceremony to honor her with the 2,309th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 20, 2006

Vanna White Facts

Vanna And Pat First Episode 1