After 40 years hosting the syndicated game show “Wheel of Fortune,” Pat Sajak, announced in a tweet Monday night that he plans to step down next year.
“Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last,” Sajak said in a statement. “It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. “Many thanks to you all.”
Suzanne Prete, the executive vice president of game shows for Sony Pictures Television also offered a statement following his announcement. She said, “As the host of Wheel of Fortune, Pat has entertained millions of viewers across America for 40 amazing years. We are incredibly grateful and proud to have had Pat as our host for all these years and we look forward to celebrating his outstanding career throughout the upcoming season. Pat has agreed to continue as a consultant on the show for three years following his last year hosting, so we’re thrilled to have him remaining close to the Wheel of Fortune family.”
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Mr. Sajak who joined the show in 1981 previously hinted that he was ready to retire from Wheel of Fortune. “Years go by fast,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2022. “We’re getting near the end. It’s been a long [time]. We’re not gonna do this for another 40 years. The end is near.”
The game show host has been dedicated to hosting ever since he came on and never missed a day of taping “Wheel of Fortune” until a health scare he had in November 2019. While exclusively speaking to ABC News at the time, Sajak detailed “horrific pain” in his stomach he was experiencing and needed to have emergency surgery for a blocked intestine.
Sajak said at the time he would continue hosting the show for as long as he could go, “I’ve gotta do this until — you know — I’m doddering,” he said. “I think I still do it at a high level. But you know, I can’t do it another 40 years, I know that, because I’d be 110, and that would be a record.”
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