The Shady Side Of Pat Sajak

Before Pat Sajak became the decades-long host of "Wheel of Fortune," he was a local weatherman in Los Angeles. He told the Archive of American Television that one night, as a joke, he claimed to have nicked himself while shaving and wore a Band-Aid on his face, which he moved around between each cutaway. This apparently caught the eye of legendary game show host and producer Merv Griffin, who offered Sajak the job of host on "Wheel." When he first got involved, Sajak had never seen the show! "I remember my first thought was, 'There's nothing for me to do!'" he said. He wasn't sure he was the right person for the gig, but Griffin insisted he give it a shot, and the rest is television history.

To liven things up, displaying the same personality that got Griffin's attention, Sajak has become known for his sarcasm and dry sense of humor. This occasionally lands him in trouble with viewers, who are surprised when the usually-affable host turns on the contestants. His relationship with co-host Vanna White, too, has become fodder for criticism, though White insisted to Closer Weekly that they have never argued. "We are like brother and sister, and I think that is what makes it work," she said. Ah yes, siblings: famous for never fighting! 

Fans also bristle at Sajak's offscreen personality; he seems to enjoy courting backlash to what Vice once called his "Crazy Right-Wing Tweets." This, then, is the shady side of Pat Sajak.

2022 was a rough year for Pat Sajak's public image. In early April, he tweeted that perhaps yet another controversy was on the horizon, foreshadowing, "You know, it's been over a week since I've stormed off the show, displayed erratic behavior, cheated someone out of their winnings, or insulted a player. I'm due."

Sure enough, an episode that aired the following week brought even more backlash against the game show host. Traditionally, Sajak and his co-star, Vanna White, close out each "Wheel of Fortune" episode with a bit of pre-credits joking, but sometimes Sajak takes it too far. In the April 13 episode, an opera singer won that day's installment of the game, leading Sajak down an uncomfortable line of questioning. First, he asked White if she was an opera buff. "I'm not a buff, but I like opera," she replied. Then, he struck. "Have you ever watched opera in the buff?" he asked.

Viewers were unhappy with the episode's inappropriately invasive turn. "When did this game show turn into Wheel of Fortune After Dark?" one fan tweeted, while others were more forceful in their condemnation of Sajak. "Dude is trying to keep the thrill alive for this job any way he can. I'm amazed he hasn't resorted to torturing contestants during the show," reasoned one viewer.

It's a time-honored tradition of game shows like "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" to have contestants tell a quirky story about themselves on their episode. It's a cute way for the audience to get a glimpse into their personalities, considering they spend the majority of the episode merely answering questions or offering guesses, and it gives game show hosts a chance to riff with the contestants to make the audience laugh.

Pat Sajak, though, seemed somewhat bored of this aspect of his job while filming an episode early in 2022. A contestant named Scott chose as his anecdote a childhood memory of injuring his toe while riding a bike in flip flops. "Why are you telling this?" Sajak interrupted at the beginning; Scott clarified that he wanted to give a shout-out to the two paramedics who helped him. After the contestant finished telling his terrible tale of toe woe, Sajak looked into the camera, seemingly stunned. "That ... that may have been the most pointless story ever told," Sajak marveled.

Fans on social media were quick to point out that Sajak looked increasingly frustrated with his longtime "Wheel of Fortune" hosting gig. "With these more frequent outbursts, it seems obvious that Sajak hates his job," one fan tweeted, attaching a gif of Dwight Schrute from "The Office." Another fan suggested Sajak should say sorry to Scott. "Pat owes the big guy an apology; he was just rude," they wrote in a since-deleted tweet. An apology did not seem to be forthcoming.

The 2018 edition of the Academy Awards was the first Oscars ceremony that took place in the early months of the #MeToo movement, and the iconic golden statues were handed out as Hollywood was still reeling from a series of shocking revelations of sexual abuse committed by powerful members of the industry. Host Jimmy Kimmel made reference to it in his opening monologue, joking, "If we can work together to stop sexual harassment in the workplace ... women will only have to deal with harassment all the time at every other place they go." Frances McDormand famously called for an "inclusion writer" in her acceptance speech for best actress, and the show even aired a montage of powerful women, introduced by actors like Annabella Sciorra who had accused Harvey Weinstein of abuse, per Vox.

Later that year, for the upcoming 2019 ceremony, planned host Kevin Hart stepped down from the awards show after fans pointed out the comedian's history of homophobic tweets. "I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past," he wrote on Twitter.

Apparently, Pat Sajak wasn't a fan of Hollywood addressing its own complicity in sexual abuse against women, or of the show reckoning with its host's history of homophobia. He tweeted that the show should be two nights long — awards would be given out first, and then, "On the second night, hold your political rally." Needless to say, the Academy did not take his suggestion.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Pat Sajak has been hosting "Wheel of Fortune" for a very long time; his first episode came all the way back in 1981. To put that in perspective, as he noted on Twitter while marking his 40th anniversary as host, that was the first year of Ronald Reagan's presidency, and popular series "The Dukes of Hazzard" was still on TV. It was a different world back then, and Sajak has had to keep things interesting over the years in order to stop himself from getting too bored of the job.

Along those lines, he revealed on ESPN's "Highly Questionable" back in 2012 that he used to engage in some highly questionable behavior himself. In an admission that likely had his network bosses pretty unhappy, Sajak recalled that his breaks between episodes used to be much longer than they are today. He and co-presenter Vanna White would go across the street to a Mexican restaurant that served margaritas. "Van and I would ... have two or three or six, and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet," he said.

"I have no idea if the shows were any good," he joked, but he insisted, "No one said anything." Nowadays, surely the droves of fans who watch "Wheel of Fortune" each night and live-tweet their experiences would definitely have something to say about this questionable behavior.

Pat Sajak is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Hillsdale College, a controversial higher-education institution. When he took the reins from outgoing Chairman William Brodbeck in 2019, Brodbeck told the school newspaper that he wasn't bothered by the fact that Sajak didn't actually attend the school he would now be leading. "Pat is a brilliant mind," he said. "He brings a sound knowledge of the school. He can dramatically move Hillsdale forward, both on campus and around the country."

It's that "around the country" part that has drawn criticism for the school, especially thanks to their involvement in Florida's polarizing overhauling of its education system ... curious, considering the college is located in Michigan! A law in Florida gives consultants from Hillsdale broad authority to help rewrite Florida's educational standards, according to Slate, including oversight of textbooks to root out any so-called "critical race theory." They have also received pushback, according to the Nashville Scene, for attempting to open charter schools in Tennessee; particular criticism came when Hillsdale's President Larry Arnn told the state's governor about Tennessee public schools, "The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country."

Sajak's association with the school has since been criticized on social media. "Sajak is also board chairman at Hillsdale College, which has been tapped by the gov. of TN to create 50+ charter schools across the state using its ultra-conservative 1776 curriculum," one observer pointed out in September 2022.