Vanna White Tries on 40 Dresses a Day for Wheel of Fortune

1. Created by Merv Griffin, Wheel of Fortune debuted as a daytime game show on NBC in 1975 and was based on the word game “Hangman.” 

2. Pat Sajak took on the role of host in 1981, and Vanna White joined the show as cohost the following year. In 1983, Wheel of Fortune went into syndication. Its spinoff Celebrity Wheel of Fortune debuted on ABC in 2021.

3. Born in Chicago, Pat started his career in the broadcasting industry. According to his bio, he joined the United States Army in 1968 and was part of Armed Forces Radio in Saigon during his time in Vietnam. Afterwards, Pat continued to work at radio and TV stations, where he fulfilled the roles of staff announcer, talk show host and weatherman.

In fact, he was working as a star weatherman in Los Angeles when he received a call from Merv asking if he’d like to host Wheel of Fortune.

“I swear, the first thought was, 'There’s nothing for me to do,’” Pat recalled to daughter and Wheel of Fortune social correspondent Maggie Sajak in a June 2024 video. “I mean, 'Yes, there are three R’s' is not exactly a career mover….Shows you what I know.”