“Thanks for permitting me into your lives,” mentioned Sajak, who has hosted the sport present since 1981.
After 4 a long time and over 8,000 episodes, longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak is saying goodbye.
As proven in a preview for his remaining episode of Wheel of Fortune, which can air on Friday night, Sajak, 77, delivered an emotional speech as he gave a candy farewell to viewers.
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“Nicely, the time has come to say goodbye,” he started within the clip, per PEOPLE. “I’ve a couple of thanks and acknowledgments earlier than I am going, and I need to begin with all watching on the market. It has been an unbelievable privilege to be invited into tens of millions of properties night time after night time, yr after yr, decade after decade.”
“And I at all times felt that the privilege got here with the accountability to maintain this every day half-hour a protected place for household enjoyable,” Sajak continued. “No social points. No politics. Nothing embarrassing, I hope. Only a sport.”
“However steadily it grew to become greater than that,” he added. “A spot the place youngsters discovered their letters, the place folks from different international locations honed their English abilities, the place households got here collectively together with mates and neighbors, and full generations.”
“What an honor to play even a small half in all of that,” Sajak concluded. “Thanks for permitting me into your lives.”
In a video shared on Thursday, TV persona’s longtime cohost, Vanna White, acquired emotional as she mirrored on her 40 years of starring on the sport present alongside Sajak.
“I do not know easy methods to put into phrases what these previous 40 years have meant to me however I’ll strive,” White, 67, started, showing to get choked up. “8000 episodes glided by like that. Once I first began, I used to be so inexperienced. You made me so comfy and so assured, Pat. You made me who I’m, you actually did.”
She added that her favourite moments are these they shared off-screen, together with “milestones and life occasions” with their households.
White later teared up as she concluded her message, telling Sajak, “As this chapter of our lives is coming to an finish, I do know you will nonetheless be shut by. You are like a brother to me and I take into account you a real lifelong buddy who I’ll at all times adore. I really like you, Pat.”
Sajak’s remaining episode comes a yr after he introduced he could be stepping down because the host of Wheel of Fortune, a place he held since 1981.
“Nicely, the time has come. I’ve determined that our forty first season, which begins in September, shall be my final,” Sajak wrote on X, previously Twitter, in June 2023. “It has been an exquisite journey, and I’ll have extra to say within the coming months. Many because of you all. (If nothing else, it’ll hold the clickbait websites busy!)”
It was later introduced that Ryan Seacrest could be taking on as host of the syndicated sport present starting with the 2024-25 season. White will keep on as cohost via the 2025-26 season.