What Pat Sajak And Vanna White's Relationship Is Like In Real Life
Before Pat Sajak announced he was retiring from "Wheel of Fortune," Vanna White discussed how difficult it would be to imagine the game show without her long-time co-host. "That's depressing. I don't even want to think about it," she told People in 2022. "Everybody relates 'Wheel of Fortune' to Pat and Vanna. We're like Ken and Barbie, you know?" Although the pair have become synonymous over the years, they did not instantly recognize their connection when they first met.
Sajak was brought in to replace Chuck Woolery as the host of "Wheel" in 1981, while White was among those who auditioned for the letter-turning role in 1982. "She was a basket case," Sajak recalled to the Grand Forks Herald in 2007. "I would not have dreamed he'd pick Vanna. Shows what I know," he added. Merv Griffin, the show's creator, was able to look past White's nerves and saw instant chemistry between her and Sajak. White's first appearance on the show came in December 1982. At the time, "Wheel" was a daytime game show, but the following year it was moved to an evening timeslot and became a massive hit.
In the early days, the two hosts bonded over cocktails during extended dinner breaks while taping. "So Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows," Sajak said on ESPN's "Highly Questionable" in 2012. Over the many years of working together, the two forged a close relationship.
Pat Sajak and Vanna White have only fought once
Vanna White credits the show's creator, Merv Griffin, with recognizing that she and Pat Sajak had the possibility to connect on a level that transcended a professional relationship. "We are like a brother and sister team," she told People. The taping schedule for "Wheel of Fortune" has also helped the two keep from getting on each other's nerves after over 40 years of working together. "We see each other every couple of weeks for a couple of days. It's perfect," White said. She added that the two easily reconnect after being apart. "And he is always making me laugh," she said about Sajak. The co-hosts are also able to read each other easily. "I can tell sometimes — and he can tell with me, without saying a word, 'Oh, she's in a bad mood,'" White told People. "We speak each other's language."
That unspoken communication has paid serious dividends. While the duo may be "a brother and sister team," they do not have fights that typically befall sibling relationships. "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 told Fox News in 2019.
White has said the two hit it off early on. "We get along so well and are really best friends. We always have been," she told Closer in 2019. Although there was a time White and Sajak hinted they could be more than friends.
Pat Sajak and Vanna White's wedding prank
The on-camera chemistry of Pat Sajak and Vanna White led many fans to speculate about a possible romance between the "Wheel of Fortune" co-hosts in the early days of the show. At times, tabloids reported that the two dated while also making separate claims that they did not get along off-set. Sajak set the record straight in 1987. "In the Inquirer, we've been everything from lovers to feuders, and we're somewhere in between," he said in an interview alongside White.
Although, the "Wheel" hosts did play up their possible romance as a prank once. "I remember years and years ago we did an April Fool's joke," White said in a 2007 joint interview with Sajak, per the Television Academy Foundation. "I don't know if we said we were married, but we said something about being together, and we received toasters," she added. Reminiscing about their faux-romance had Sajak contemplate a scenario where the on-screen duo tried dating. "I don't know how we would've done as a couple," Sajak said, adding that their taping schedule is conducive to a sustainable friendship. "Even if we do get on each other's nerves, we go our separate ways and don't see each other for two weeks." Perhaps wedding bells were never in the cards, but their friendship has lasted longer than most marriages.