Insiders reveal what’s really behind Pat Sajak’s bizarre behavior on ‘Wheel of Fortune’
nypost.comacting quite bizarrely.In the last month or so, Sajak has put a contestant in a chokehold; claimed he hides in letter-turner Vanna White’s garden; asked a contestant to remove his shirt and tugged on a contestant’s beard.On this past Monday night’s show, he even scolded a contestant who grabbed the envelope in the show’s bonus round: “Don’t ever do it again!”One can’t help but wonder if America’s longest-running game show host has finally had enough — or maybe he was always this strange and grumpy.Getting tired of the wordplay grind would be understandable.
He’s been hosting “Wheel” for four decades, since 1981. The fashions have changed, but the game has remained very much the same.By comparison, Johnny Carson’s seemingly never-ending reign on “The Tonight Show” was just 30 years — and the King of Late Night took 15 weeks of vacation at the end of his run.Sajak’s recent hijinks aren’t the first time he’s exhibited strange behavior.
In the fall of 2020, in a span of 10 days, there were numerous incidents. He snapped at a contestant for “interrupting” him while he read a commercial promo on one show.
On another, he told a competitor to “stop making sound effects” when they let out a celebratory yelp. “Ungrateful players! I’ve had it!” he said to another player when they questioned an answer as “redundant.”In 2021, he even mocked a young man’s speech impediment on air.
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