Pat Sajak is being honored for his longtime internet hosting duties on Wheel of Fortune for the ultimate time.
Sajak, who started internet hosting Wheel of Fortune in 1981 and formally retired in June 2024, took dwelling the award for excellent host for a sport present on the 2024 Artistic Arts Emmys on Saturday, Sept. 7.
The 77-year-old tv character was not in attendance to simply accept the consideration, which additionally featured Celeb Household Feud‘s Steve Harvey, Jeopardy‘s Ken Jennings, Password‘s Keke Palmer, and Weakest Hyperlink‘s Jane Lynch as nominees within the class.
With the win for his ultimate season, Sajak earns his first Emmy in 26 years. He has been nominated 23 occasions and beforehand gained the Daytime Emmy for excellent sport present host in 1993, 1997, and 1998. (The class moved from the Daytime Emmys to the Primetime Emmys in 2023, with the first Primetime award going to Palmer.)
Sajak additionally beforehand acquired a Lifetime Achievement Award on the 2011 Daytime Emmy Awards, alongside Jeopardy!‘s Alex Trebek.
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Sajak took over Wheel of Fortune internet hosting duties from Chuck Woolery in 1981, with co-host Vanna White becoming a member of him the next yr. The 2 remained on the sequence for 4 a long time earlier than Sajak introduced his retirement in June 2023.
On the time, he wrote by way of X (previously Twitter), “Nicely, the time has come. I’ve determined that our forty first season, which begins in September, can be my final. It’s been a beautiful journey, and I’ll have extra to say within the coming months. Many because of you all. (If nothing else, it’ll maintain the clickbait websites busy!)”
Weeks later, Ryan Seacrest was confirmed as his substitute, whereas White will keep on the present and proceed by the 2025-2026 season.
“It has been slightly bit wistful and all that, however I am having fun with it and taking all of it in and reflecting on the nice run,” Sajak beforehand stated of internet hosting the present. “Someplace alongside the road, we grew to become greater than a well-liked present. We grew to become a part of the favored tradition. And extra importantly, we grew to become a part of folks’s lives. And, that is been awfully gratifying.”
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When it got here time for his ultimate episode on June 7, Sajak gave a touching speech the place he expressed his gratitude to his loyal viewers, his forged and crew, and his members of the family.
“Thanks for permitting me into your lives, each time we taped a present I met three new folks from all elements of this glorious nation and the world who had been form and thoughtful, who rooted for one another, who took nice delight in speaking about their household, their hometown, their associates, their colleges, their jobs, even their pets,” he stated. “In the long run, they had been the actual stars of the present. I genuinely like these folks and I am going to miss the possibility to satisfy extra of them.”
After paying his dues to the village of people that made Wheel of Fortune into what it’s immediately, he addressed White, calling her his “skilled different half.”
“We have seen a variety of adjustments in one another’s lives through the years, however we have at all times been there for one another,” he stated. “Whereas I am going to very a lot miss working along with her, I take solace in the truth that we stay about 5 miles aside so we’ll see loads of one another. However I’ll miss our nightly closes and her laughter and her good nature.”
Although Sajak has formally retired from Wheel of Fortune, that will not be the final of him on tv screens. In July, it was introduced that he can be returning to host the upcoming season of Celeb Wheel of Fortune, which premieres on Oct. 7.
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Wheel of Fortune airs weeknights (test native listings).
