Pat Sajak has hosted his final episode ofWheel of Fortune.
He made it up to them by giving them each $5,000.
Sajak then turned to his cohost,Vanna White, who’s been by his side since 1982.
Pat Sajak says goodbye as host of “Wheel of Fortune.".Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty
“Like me, she takes the show very seriously, but not herself.
“Vanna is as sweet and unassuming as she seems.
“But I will miss our nightly closes and her laughter and her good nature.
She’s a very special woman.
And I know youre all pleased to know that shell be back next season.”
“We’ve watched our children grow up together.
We’ve traveled all over the world.
We’ve eaten hundreds of meals together.
We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve celebrated.”
She nearly cried, adding, “Oh gosh.
White has since explained that she considered following Sajak out the door.
Ultimately, she finalized a contract to stay through the 2025-2026 season.
“It was a very hard decision for me to make,” she toldPEOPLEin October 2023.
TheAmerican Idolveteran will be accompanied by White.
Sajak has looked back on decades ofWOFthis week in a series of interviews with his daughter.
We became part of the popular culture.”
He knows they have touched people.
Or, ‘My mom came from the Philippines and learned to speak English.’
We didn’t intend any of that.
And yet we’ve become this sort of cohesive bond between people and generations and families and friends.
That’s been awfully gratifying.”
