After hosting Wheel of Fortune for nearly 40 years, Pat Sajak’s daughter has stepped in to co-host alongside Vanna White during his absence amid health scare.
Since longtime “Wheel of Fortune” host, Pat Sajak, was rushed to the hospital with severe stomach pain back in November, the position of letter-turner suddenly became vacant.
Vanna White stepped in to temporarily replace Pat as the show’s main host, but fans were left wondering who would be replacing her usual position as co-host.
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Last month Pat opened up to “Good Morning America” about the current state of his health and recounted the story of having to undergo surgery.
The good news is, he’s “feeling great”.
“I’ve actually felt ridiculously good for several weeks,” he said.
He explained that he’s been testing the waters again and things seem to be going well so far.
“I’ve been back in the studio spinning the wheel and nothing has popped.”
He then recalled the day things went awry — having to be rushed to the hospital after experiencing severe stomach pain.
“It was that quick and that intense,” he described .
The pain he was feeling was due to an intestinal blockage. His blood pressure dropped so low that after being taken in at the hospital, doctors had to wait for it to go back up before they could operate.
He explained the pain as feeling “horrific” and “excruciating”.
“You couldn’t do anything. I was in [a] fetal position, lying on the bed,” he said.
“They try to give you various drugs for the pain. And none of it was working.”
At one point, after the pain killers began to take hold, he admitted that he thought he was going to die.
“Then they gave me something, I couldn’t even tell you the name of it, but suddenly, I wasn’t thinking about the pain.”
“I just had these beautiful pastels and lovely faces coming out of it.”
“In the background, I could hear my wife and daughter talking. It sounded like they were a mile off, but they were right next to me.”
“They were talking to each other. And I remember thinking, not in a morbid way, ‘I think this must be death. This must be what death is like.’ “
“Hearing their voices, I thought, ‘Boy, their lives are gonna change now.’ And I felt badly for them.”
“I didn’t feel badly about dying. I felt badly that they were gonna have to deal with the aftermath. As it turned out, I was just high.”
“I’m as good or bad as new, and that’s great. I still have my wits about me. They didn’t remove that, so I’ll be selling vowels for a long time,” he said .
He revealed that he loves his job hosting “Wheel of Fortune” and plans to continue doing it as far as his body will take him.
“As I get older, I now appreciate what this show means,” he said . “I’ve gotta do this until — you know — I’m doddering. I think I still do it at a high level. But you know, I can’t do it another 40 years, I know that, because I’d be 110, and that would be a record.”
For the time being, however, Pat has been taking some extra time off the air to make sure he’s in tip-top shape for his official return.
In the meantime, his daughter, Maggie, has been filling in with Vanna White.
“Wheel of Fortune” announced Maggie’s inception on Twitter yesterday along with a short clip of her and Vanna.
“He is doing well. From the perspective of his daughter, it was a scary experience, I’m not going to lie,” Maggie said.
“But he is doing great and I know he is so excited to be back next week.”
Maggie also made sure to remind fans of her true debut on Wheel of Fortune in 1996, when she was just a toddler.
“I’m walking a little better this time,” she joked. “And hopefully I am a bit more eloquent.”
Let us know what you think of Pat Sajak’s daughter co-hosting Wheel of Fortune in the comments below!
