The Surprising Reason Pat Sajak Walked Off The Wheel Of Fortune Set
Over eight million people watch "Wheel of Fortune" every day, per ABC. The hit show has been on the air since 1975, and Pat Sajak has been the host since 1981. Sajak has won three Emmys for his work, and in 2019, received a Guinness World Record for having the "longest career as a game show host for the same show" (via Today).
The show broke another record recently. For the first time in its history, three contestants in as many days won the $100,000 in the bonus round (via 6ABC). What makes that so impressive is that it combines a series of unlikely events, including spinning the wheel to the $100,000 prize, which is a 1 in 24 chance while also solving the final puzzle in the allotted ten seconds (per People).
Bree Yokouchi was the third winner, solving the puzzle "Just You Wait" (via YouTube). And Sajak's reaction when they found out she'd not just solved the puzzle but had also won the $100,000 showed just how amazing it was.
Pat Sajak was stunned by the record breaking wins
When Pat Sajak opened up the card to see her prize, he seemed surprised and incredulous, asking, "Who's going to book my trip to Vegas?" as he showed the $100,000 prize card to the audience (per YouTube). As confetti fell on Bree Yokouchi, Sajak jokingly said, "I'm out of here. That's it; I'm through," and tossed his cue card and walked off set (via People).
He, of course, came back on set to talk with Vanna White and Yokouchi about the historic win and, according to USA Today, said, "You know it's not just landing on that, that's amazing enough, but that was a heck of a solve. Going for four tomorrow."
Sajak's daughter Maggie Sajak tweeted a FaceTime call she had with her dad to talk about the historic win. "I'm running out of words to describe my reaction. Stunned, surprised, I don't know. It's all inadequate," he said.
Maggie asked if four in a row could be a possibility, to which Pat said that it was a virtual impossibility. But, as Maggie pointed out, before this week, three in a row had been considered virtually impossible. "Wheel of Fortune" fans who like this kind of inside scoop should know that Maggie works as a social correspondent for "Wheel of Fortune," and she often checks in with her dad after big wins and posts their convos on Twitter.
Two $100,000 wins in a row was a first, much less three
The record streak all started when on Monday's "Wheel of Fortune," contestant Lisa Kramer won the first $100,000 of the week for a total prize pot of $116,700 by correctly guessing "Vultures overhead" in the category "Living Things" (per YouTube).
The next day, Pat Sajak said that he double checked the rules and confirmed that it could happen again: "It can happen two days in a row. Nothing says you can't do that" (per Suggest). He probably didn't actually expect it to happen, but contestant Mark Baer managed what had never happened before to go home with $126,550 total in winnings by guessing "A Quick Flight" (via YouTube). As the confetti fell, Sajak quipped, "And wouldn't you know it, I just sold all my confetti stock." He seemed impressed that for a show that's been on the air for so long, there were still surprises to be had.
However, then came day three and Sajak joked that the confetti had been reloaded just in case Bree Yokouchi drew the $100,000 prize and solved the puzzle (per YouTube). While it was a joke, the impossible happened again and it's a good thing they had more confetti.
Pat Sajak has walked off set before
In response to the record-breaking win, the "Wheel of Fortune" Twitter account posted that they were "running out of confetti."
In reply, one fan worked out the math, tweeting, "24 spaces, 1 $100,000 prize. So any player has a 1/24 shot of landing on it. It happening twice in a row is 1/576. It happening three times in a row is 1/13,824. Amazing that this happened. Will we see it happen again tomorrow, where the chance would be 1/331,776?"
This isn't the first time that Pat Sajak has walked off the set, though it doesn't happen that often. It was in 2014 at one of the Hawaii shows. As contestants were trying to figure out the answer for the "What are you doing?" category, they kept mentioning horses. One guessed "Riding a brown horse" and the next contestant guessed "Riding a white horse," at which point Sajak walked off set, then back on and said "Who said anything about a horse?" (via The Wrap).