Originally appeared on E! Online
Vanna White almost spun the wheel on her career.
The “Wheel of Fortune” star revealed that she almost left the long-running game show around the same time co-host Pat Sajak decided to retire in 2024 after 41 years on air.
“When Pat decided he was going to retire, I had to make a decision,” White exclusively shared with E! News. “Working with someone for that long, I feel like I should maybe go with him.”
As the 68-year-old explained, she had mixed feelings about continuing on the show with somebody new after more than four decades.
“But I thought hard and thought, ‘You know what? I’m just not ready to retire yet. I’m having fun. I feel good. I feel healthy,’” she continued. “So, at this point, it’s one year at a time.”
Indeed, she doesn’t have an end date in mind when it comes to her role on “Wheel of Fortune,” and she’s also not sure if her post-Wheel career includes any other TV gigs.
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“I don’t think there’s anything else on TV I would rather do after being on Wheel for so long,” she shared. “Honestly, I think I wanna just play golf when I retire.”
But as White — who has been with the show since 1982 — knows first hand, “You never know what tomorrow holds.”
“At this point, I’m happy with my job, I’m continuing on Wheel, and we will take one year at a time and go from there,” she added. “You never know what’s around the corner. You just don’t. Something might come to me that I want to be involved in. I just take one day at a time.”
And White — who shares kids Nicholas, 31, and Giovanna, 28, with ex-husband George Santo Pietro — is loving working alongside her new cohost Ryan Seacrest, who took over hosting duties from Pat in 2024.
“We get along great,” she told E!. “I think our chemistry is good. He’s such a nice guy and he’s so professional and hardworking and we just gel. This is our second year together and I feel like it’s been forever.”
Plus, it helped that she and Seacrest had known each other for over 20 years before he joined the show.
“We do have some background friendship,” she added. “It all worked out just perfect.”
At the same time, the TV personality has also maintained her close friendship with Sajak, revealing that she and the former host only got into one argument during their time working together: whether or not you should put ketchup on a hot dog.
“I do,” she laughed. “He does not. He said that’s wrong.”
“Wheel of Fortune” airs weeknights on ABC, with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock and Hulu. And don’t forget a special holiday episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune on Dec. 18 at 8 p.m.
Pat Sajak delighted “Wheel of Fortune” fans as he returned to host an episode of the celebrity version of the game show. The 78-year-old reunited with co-host Vanna White on a new episode “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” on Monday, Dec. 4.
