Pat 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.