Pat Sajak, 76, will retire after filming one final season of Wheel of Fortune beginning in the fall.
A behemoth of the game-show industry, the world-famous personality will end his reign as host after 41 seasons.
“Well, the time has come,” Sajak posted on social media. “I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all.”
The news comes nearly four years after Sajak had emergency surgery to fix a blocked intestine.
Forming a pair with Vanna White in 1983, Sajak helped Wheel of Fortune become one of the highest-rated and most popular game shows in American television history. For many families, they’d tune into the show after the nightly news and then watch Jeopardy! hosted by Alex Trebek afterwards.
Sajak’s humor and warm personality with guests helped make the brain-teaser game show even more entertaining. During his 40 years as host, Sajak received 19 nominations for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, winning the award three different times. He also is the longest-running host of any game show, officially surpassing The Price Is Right’s Bob Barker in 2018-19.
The Severna Park native accomplished this all while raising his family in Maryland and frequently flying coast-to-coast from the DMV to shoot the show in Culver City, California.
Away from Sony Pictures Studios, Sajak has dedicated his recreational time to hockey and has been a Capitals’ season-ticket holder since 2005-06 — Alex Ovechkin’s rookie season. Sajak has been spotted showing up to games at his glass-side seats on TV with his son Patrick or daughter Maggie.
“It’s been fun to see the evolution of hockey in this town,” Sajak said in 2018 on the NHL Network. “It really began with Ovechkin. The Caps had a pretty good fan base, but when he came, when that team was built, now you can’t find a seat. It was not the case when we started coming, there were a lot of empty seats.”
Over the years, Sajak has sometimes made surprise cameos at Capitals special events. During the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, Sajak announced the starting lineups between the Capitals and Golden Knights.
“It’s kind of other-worldly,” Sajak said of the Caps being in the Finals that year. “You kind of develop a callous of expectations. You’re ready for disappointments. I think what made the (Game Two) Holtby save, had that gone in, what a deflating goal. I could have seen that game easily going the other way and this series going the other way. It was kind of a message to the Caps or Caps fans that ‘You know, maybe we’ve got a little puck luck this year’ and that doesn’t hurt.”
Sajak is also a season-ticket holder for the Los Angeles Kings and attended a Nashville Predators game years ago. His love for hockey started as a kid despite not playing himself.
“I grew up in Chicago and followed the Blackhawks,” Sajak said. “We knew we couldn’t afford to go to the games then but we listened to them and watched them when we could. I just fell in love with the sport even though I could barely stand on skates. But there’s something about it that’s compelling to me. I think of all the sports, I like the athletes the best. They are the most accessible, the most fan friendly, the most invested in their league than any other sport.”
We may keep @patsajak on to be our @Capitals analyst for the rest of the series!
The 13-year season ticket holder joined #NHLTonight earlier to talk #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/DHpaAhf2Dy
— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) June 3, 2018
Sajak has cultivated a close friendship with former Capital and NBC Sports Washington personality Craig Laughlin. Sajak made a brief appearance at the 2022 Laughlin Family Foundation Golf Tournament held in Crofton, MD, which helped raise money to fight rare cancers in honor of Craig’s wife Linda. Sajak was spotted trading stories with Braden Holtby and Karl Alzner in the back bar and later met with fans inside the ball room during the live auction.
Sajak is married to photographer Lesly Brown-Sajak. His son Patrick is a doctor, having earned his doctorate degree in 2021, and his daughter Maggie has become a social correspondent on Wheel of Fortune.
From everyone here at RMNB, congratulations, Pat, on your retirement and all of the success over the years. We hope to see you at even more Caps games in the future.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
