“Well, the time has come to say goodbye,” Sajak said on his last episode as the game show’s host
Vanna White, Pat Sajak
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Pat Sajak‘s last episode as a host of Wheel of Fortune on June 7 received historic viewership. New data from the final episode, revealed Tuesday, showed that Sajak’s Fortune farewell episode drew in 11 million views — the highest viewership of the show since April 2020.
The viewership made the episode the most-watched telecast of the week, excluding sports. It also reached a household rating of 5.2. Sajak’s last five episodes ended up landing in the Top 15 broadcasts of the week as well, per Variety.
Sajak passed on hosting responsibilities to Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White, who was with Sajak since the beginning.
“Well, the time has come to say goodbye,” Sajak told the audience. “It’s been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes, night after night, year after year, decade after decade… I always felt that the privilege came with the responsibility to keep this daily half-hour a safe place for family fun. No social issues. No politics. Nothing embarrassing, I hope. Just a game. But gradually, it became more than that.”
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Sajak started hosting the TV staple in 1981. He shared in June 2023 that the following season would be his last. White shared her own video tribute to the host last Thursday.
“I don’t know how to put into words what these past 40 years have meant to me but I’m going to try,” White said. “8000 episodes went by like that. When I first started, I was so green. You made me so comfortable and so confident, Pat. You made me who I am, you really did.”
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