Pat Sajak Hosted ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Drunk In Early Days
EmailPat Sajak hasn’t always been the sober host seen nightly on “Wheel of Fortune.”
Sajak, who has been hosting the game show since 1981, recently revealed that in the show’s early days he was sometimes drunk on camera, after tossing back a few margaritas with sidekick Vanna White.
“When I first started and was much younger and could tolerate those things, we had a different show then. You didn’t win money. You won fake money with which you could buy cheesy prizes,” Sajak explained during an interview on “Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable.”
He explained that with the time it took producers to set up the prizes, he and White would have dinner breaks of more than two hours, giving them plenty of time to imbibe at Los Arcos, a Mexican restaurant near NBC’s Burbank studio.
“Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. They’re really good tapes to get a hold of,” said Sajak, adding that his average number of drinks was “cuatro” or four.
“I had a great time. I have no idea if the shows were any good, but no one said anything, so I guess I did OK,” Sajak said.
He curtailed the activity as he got older. “I would be hesitant to have anything to drink now,” Sajak said.
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Who knows what else happened during those 2 hour lunches between those two…
Posted by: SweetiePie | January 26, 2012, 11:58 am 11:58 am
Such hard work requiring skill and clear thinking – calling out letters and turning pieces of a wall with those letters. The show is still a joke.
Posted by: Give Me a Break | January 26, 2012, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
Rather funny.
Posted by: lexingtonlady | January 26, 2012, 12:14 pm 12:14 pm
You would think that Pat would aspire to more in life…he wasn’t happy being a weather man and moved to host the show and he has stayed with it all these years…you would just think he would want more out of his professional life…I guess really simple things make him happy, just like a child…
Posted by: RalphF | January 26, 2012, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
In the real world he would have L_ST HIS J_B.
Posted by: JustMeIntheRock | January 26, 2012, 12:27 pm 12:27 pm
If I had to work with Vanna, drunk would probably be preferrable.
Posted by: Timme62 | January 26, 2012, 12:29 pm 12:29 pm
He’s a big supporter of one of the best conservative colleges in the country. Of course they’re going to do a piece like this.
Posted by: s | January 26, 2012, 1:27 pm 1:27 pm
I’d like to buy a round of vowels for the house.
Posted by: name | January 26, 2012, 1:48 pm 1:48 pm
Drinking on the job AND held it down for the last 31 YEARS??? Alot more than other people can say. Don’t dog him for having a cheesy job, calling out letters & turning blocks. This show is watched by millions everyday!
Posted by: Mix74 | January 26, 2012, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm
If I had to go to work knowing my mission in life was to make stupid people feel like Einstein for half an hour, I’d show up drunk too.
Posted by: Ed | January 26, 2012, 2:32 pm 2:32 pm
“I’d like to buy a round of vowels for the house.” Awe. some.
Posted by: puppyfeet217 | January 26, 2012, 3:09 pm 3:09 pm
Who wouldn’t want to suck down a few margaritas with sidekick Vanna White. Come on, this is not news, it is the American Dream.
Posted by: dkgiovenco | January 26, 2012, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
Is there really any other way to host a game show?
Posted by: jj | January 26, 2012, 11:11 pm 11:11 pm
ROFLMAO! Sajak, always the entertainer!
Posted by: john locke | January 27, 2012, 12:03 am 12:03 am
This was back in the early cays of wheel of fortune not like it is now. Besides being an MC on Wheel of Fortune, he has appeared in a few two man plays over here in Hawaii. He’s good friends with one of out local newscaster’s that had done some time reporting from Vietnam during the war.
Vanna Had the job of turning the letters. He interacted with the contestants and repeated the letters they called out.
Posted by: D Mayeda | January 27, 2012, 2:13 am 2:13 am
I would have to be be half in the bag to work that show every weeknight.
Posted by: Stan the Man | January 27, 2012, 9:11 am 9:11 am
Pretty sad that a “reporter” gets her story from watching TV like the rest of us…
Posted by: Tbone | January 27, 2012, 8:58 pm 8:58 pm