Wheel Of Fortune keeps on turning, gets new U.S. and U.K. hosts
Ryan Seacrest has been tapped to take over Wheel Of Fortune from Pat Sajak, while Graham Norton will host a U.K. version
Aux News Wheel of Fortune
Did you see white smoke rising from a smokestack in Burbank? A new host for Wheel Of Fortune has been chosen, just two weeks after longtime host Pat Sajak announced he’d soon be retiring. The new guy is an obvious choice (and one of The A.V. Club’s best guesses—sorry, Sarah Hyland!): Ryan Seacrest, a man who is simply addicted to hosting things. He only recently stepped down from his role at Live! With Kelly And Ryan, and has now signed a “multi-year agreement” to sign on as host and consulting producer starting in 2024, according to NBC News.
“I’m truly humbled to be stepping into the footsteps of the legendary Pat Sajak. I can say, along with the rest of America, that it’s been a privilege and pure joy to watch Pat and Vanna on our television screens for an unprecedented 40 years, making us smile every night and feel right at home with them. Pat, I love the way you’ve always celebrated the contestants and made viewers at home feel at ease. I look forward to learning everything I can from you during this transition,” Seacrest said in a statement posted to social media. “Many people probably don’t know this but one of my first jobs was hosting a little game show called Click for Merv Griffin 25 years ago so this is truly a full circle moment for me and I’m grateful to Sony for the opportunity.” (Griffin also created Wheel in 1975.)
He concluded his statement, “I can’t wait to continue the tradition of spinning the wheel and working alongside the great Vanna White.” White is under contract for another year and, according to a source for The New York Times, “is in negotiations to continue with the show.”
As it happens, Seacrest isn’t the only new hire in the Wheel Of Fortune world. Across the pond, beloved chat show host Graham Norton has been tapped to helm a U.K. version of the classic game show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series will air on ITV1 and ITVX in 2024, following a previous incarnation that ran from 1988 to 2001. “I’m beyond excited to be bringing such an iconic American show to a new British audience,” Norton said in his own statement. “My first ever TV job was a game show on ITV so this feels like coming full circle. You might even call it a wheel!”
Seems like they picked the right two guys for the job—career hosts who got their start in game shows. And so the Wheel Of Fortune keeps spinning on, and on, and on…
58 Comments
Could they have picked a more boring choice than Ryan Seacrest? Ugh.
An appropriate replacement for Pat Sajak (who wasn’t exactly Rip Taylor.)
At least Seacrest isn’t, as far as we know, a conservative climate change denier.
Seacreast is one of those giant packs of paper towels you buy at Sam’s Club or Costco wrapped in a fancy suit.
(hey, who is?)
There goes Sajak’s slightly off-color jokes that are so juvenile they don’t qualify to register as offensive. That’s how boring Seacrest is.Also, how the hell does he have time to host a game show??
Most game shows tape a week’s worth of shows per day and bank shows for months in advance. Seacrest will likely only have to be on set a few days a month. I imagine his over-exposure is a big reason he’s so boring. All he has time to do is show up and read the cue card. I guess he’s happy to do that so long as the checks keep coming.
Yeah, but even then from everything I see and read he’s already about the busiest guy in show business. But hey, it’s not my schedule.
And what’s with airline peanuts?!
how the hell does he have time to host a game show??Wheel of Fortune host, Pat Sajak, told CBS, “We shoot 35 times a year, 35 days a year, but it’s stretched out over nine months…it’s not exactly the most grueling schedule you’ve ever heard about.”
Looking forward to a year from now when Seacrest is fired for having sexual relations with the wheel.
Norton would have been a fun choice for the US show!
Admittedly Father Noel Furlong is a big character, but I had no idea Graham Norton had done anything other than standup before then.
I came here to say just that.
I really like Graham Norton but am not sure if he’d be well received by a daytime US audience. His British snark and humor might be too much. I totally understand why they went with boring, teflon Ryan Seacrest.
He’s Irish.
Oops, apologies to Norton. Still, my point stands.
Northern Irish.
No – he was born near Dublin, and grew up in Cork.
I don’t disagree. I’m sure Norton would have to ‘tone down’ his act for a US daytime audience, but even a ‘toned down’ Norton would be fun…until someone freaks out over a light blue joke. HAHA!
Evening audience. Wheel airs at 7/7:30 pm
She won’t mesh well with Ryan Seacrest. He could be her son.
Vanna White is lawyering up after the Ryan Seacrest Wheel of Fortune host announcement because apparently she hasn’t received a raise in 18 years.
But when are they going to bring back the ceramic cat or dog?
And the gift certificates to Service Merchandise?
Or pig.
Shoulda let Whoopi have it.
I wanted Vanna because… I still fucking kind of want Vanna.
Who over a certain age doesn’t?
i would take any number of bullets for Vanna. she was not good filling in for Pat during his health scare. she never got comfortable. i think her 3-5 words per episode are exactly what makes her feel at home.
This was predictable and uninspired. It will probably work out fine, but I still think there were better ways to go.Not sure about others, but I find Seacrest is off-putting because he’s always working or acting. It never seems like he is legitimately having a good time with anything or even really interested in who he is talking to. It’s all a job and he takes that job super fucking seriously, even if that job is “appear affable and ask softball questions.” Like, credit it to him, he made a lot out of nothing. But so much of his persona comes off as artificial.
A few years ago I was talking to a friend who was president of one of our local police unions and he was sharing how one of his colleagues was not out while he was. He was the only one who knew his co-worker was gay and all of their co-workers had a huge distrust for this guy and none of them knew why. Living a lie will do that to you.
My first reaction is that the guy is already such a workhorse I can’t imagine he has time to prepare for and film five episodes of anything per week.
Assuming it’s like Jeopardy, they film 5 episodes in one day.
Pat lives in Maryland with his family and would fly to LA for like a week each month and shoot the months worth of episodes in a few days, so he should be alright
Googled it and the filming schedule for Wheel is four days a month, six episodes per day.
Seacrest is just so smarmy. Reminds me of a used car salesman, a really unscrupulous one, at that.
I hate Ryan Seacrest
Can we swap, and send Seacrest to the Brits so that we can have the delightful Graham Norton? Please? We just managed to get rid of Corden, and now to have Seacrest back just feels like a slap in the face.
I was just coming here to write that
We need a new gameshow host farming system.
Where’s Wink Martindale’s son, Nod?
I’m sorry that I, Very Famous Internet Poster Murry Chang, had to turn down the job. I’m sure Seacrest will be…adequate…
It’s Sajak, not Sajack. The press release in your story has the correct spelling.
If you ever meet Sajak,
You should stop and say “Say, Jack…!”
“Thanks for all the puzzles, Mr. Sajak!”
For some reason, John Michael Higgins’ talents are currently being wasted over at the Game Show Network on shows you’ve never heard of. If he wants to host something he deserves way better than that, but I never see his name suggested.
If y’all are sleeping on America Says, you need to wake tf up. It’s a great show and JMH is so funny on it. I’m not sold on Split Second yet but I’ll take more JMH in my life any way I can.
Oh I’m sure it’s great, I just happened to see a clip of Split Second the other day and did a double-take. I 100% get why a character actor nearing retirement age would want a local, stable 9 to 5 hosting gig, but my immediate reaction was “John! You’re established enough to have a network show! Fire your agent!”
He would’ve been a perfect choice.
Correction: Wheel tapes on the Sony lot in Culver City. It hasn’t been in Burbank since 1989 lmao.
Wheel of Fortune did not really look for another alternatives likes hosting a Worldwide search for a new host
I change the channel after Jeopardy.
…In my country, channel change you!
I wouldn’t even know it was still on without the sporadic coverage of stupid contestants, stupid puzzles, and Pat Sajaks increasingly bizarre behavior.I guess now it’ll just be stupid contestants and stupid puzzles.
Yeesh. I’d rather have Mike Richards host Wheel of Fortune than Seacrest.
I might have actually watched the Norton version.
Pat and Vanna should be replaced by Anthony Andersen and Meg thee Stallion.
WoF is made in Culver City.
Can we swap them? I’d rather see Graham Norton in the US version. He’s far, far funnier.