Wheel of Fortune’s Pat Sajak Has Puzzling Update After Retirement

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Pat Sajak is living the ranch life—sort of.

Pat Sajak, who recently retired from hosting Wheel of Fortune, shared that he’s now living in Montana. But some viewers think he may be hinting at something more – perhaps not everything is as it seems!

In a video posted to X on June 14th, Pat Sajak addressed fans who have been asking about him. He shared that he’s doing well and enjoying life after moving to Montana, saying, ‘Everything is going just great.’

Okay, so there’s been some chatter about where this video was actually shot! Let me clear things up – it definitely wasn’t Montana. As you can see in the footage, I filmed it poolside with a gorgeous ocean view and plenty of palm trees. It’s pretty obvious we weren’t in the mountains!

Oh my gosh, he said hi! It was so quick, but it happened! And then – get this – you could hear a cow mooing in the background, which somehow just made it even MORE perfect. He apologized for having to go check on his cattle, and then called out ‘Here boy!’ Honestly, I’m still reeling. Cattle and him? It’s too much! Absolutely dreamy.

Of course, many fans were quick to jump in on the joke alongside Sajak.

Seeing those photos instantly reminded me of simpler times, surfing in Butte. It’s funny, someone else commented about seeing ‘Montana beach cows’ – a playful way to say they’d ‘herd’ of them, get it? It just brought a smile to my face remembering those days and that little joke!

One viewer was really thrown off by the video, playfully commenting that it briefly made them doubt their knowledge of geography.

After leaving Wheel of Fortune in 2024, Pat Sajak has mostly stayed out of the public eye. He and his wife Lesly Brown have two children, Michael, age 35, and Maggie Sajak. However, he did return to acting in 2025, appearing in a Honolulu revival of the play Prescription: Murder.

He admitted in a 2023 interview with KHON that he wasn’t expecting an overwhelming amount of work offers, but said he was open to taking on new projects if any came his way.

He was excited to start the next phase of his life after finishing work on Wheel, but he also felt a little anxious about the future.

Sajak joked that he anticipates spending a lot of time relaxing and carving things on a porch. However, he quickly added that he doesn’t actually know how to carve and doesn’t have a porch, so it might be difficult!

For a deep dive into everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Wheel of Fortune, keep reading.

Wheel of Fortune was created by Merv Griffin and first aired on NBC in 1975 as a daytime game show inspired by the classic game Hangman. In 1981, Pat Sajak became the host, followed by Vanna White joining as co-host in 1982. By 1983, the show was being broadcast nationwide through syndication and later spawned a celebrity version that premiered on ABC in 2021.

Pat Sajak began his broadcasting career after growing up in Chicago and serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, where he worked with Armed Forces Radio in Saigon. He then held various positions at radio and TV stations as an announcer, talk show host, and weatherman. Interestingly, Merv Griffin contacted him while Pat was working as a popular weatherman in Los Angeles to offer him the hosting job on Wheel of Fortune.

Pat Sajak later jokingly recalled to his daughter, Maggie Sajak, in a June 2024 interview that he initially doubted the show’s potential, saying, ‘Just saying letters isn’t exactly going to launch a career!’

Vanna White grew up in South Carolina and initially studied fashion design in Atlanta. She then moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, which is where she was discovered and auditioned for Wheel of Fortune. In a 2019 interview with CBS 58, Vanna admitted she was incredibly nervous, especially since around 200 other women were also trying out – and she was the last one they saw that day.

The show has shared that the first letter Vanna ever touched on the puzzle board was a ‘T’.

Jim Thornton became the announcer for Wheel of Fortune in 2011. Before that, he had an extensive career doing voice-over work for films, television shows, and commercials, including projects like Monsters, Inc., Rugrats, and Celebrity Deathmatch.

Pat Sajak and Vanna White were a familiar presence on Wheel of Fortune for over four decades, appearing in more than 8,000 episodes across 41 seasons before Pat’s retirement in June 2024. In 2019, Pat earned a Guinness World Record for having the longest career as a game show host. Vanna also holds a record: in 2013, Guinness recognized her as the “most frequent clapper,” estimating she clapped over 3.4 million times during 30 seasons – averaging around 606 claps per show when accounting for any missed appearances.

With over 20 million weekly viewers (according to a 2023 announcement), Wheel of Fortune is a hugely popular game show. Over its 41 seasons, the show has given away almost 600 cars and nearly 5,000 vacations. As of 2024, Wheel of Fortune has awarded over $324 million in cash and prizes to lucky contestants.

Vanna White has walked the equivalent of two marathons (about 52 miles) while assisting with the puzzle board over the years! She’s also worn over 7,000 dresses on the show, but surprisingly, she doesn’t get to keep them. For almost four decades, she never repeated an outfit. In a 2020 social media video, she jokingly pointed out that she wore the same dress twice for the first time, calling it “so 2020!”

No game of Wheel of Fortune would be complete without its iconic wheel! It’s massive, weighing in at a hefty 2,400 pounds, according to ABC News.

The wheel is uniquely designed for travel; the show breaks it down and rebuilds it at each location. In fact, the entire production travels with over a million pounds of equipment.

And don’t forget the Bonus Wheel – it’s packed with prizes in more than 24 envelopes, as reported by ABC News.

If you’ve ever wondered how Wheel of Fortune is filmed, Vanna White explained they shoot six shows in just four days!

The puzzle board itself got a high-tech upgrade in 2022 – it’s now one large screen. Vanna doesn’t even need to touch it anymore; she simply holds her hand near the laser display.

Interestingly, despite changing prices over the years, buying a vowel still costs $250, just as it has for the last forty years.

And how does Pat Sajak instantly know how many letters are left in a puzzle? A team listens to each guess and sends him the correct number on a small screen visible only to him.

Contestants on Wheel of Fortune have a helpful tool viewers don’t see: a letter board that lights up when a consonant or vowel is called, helping them avoid requesting letters that have already been used. Pat Sajak explained that while players sometimes slip up and repeat letters, he understands the pressure they’re under.

Pat is also the creator of the popular Toss-Up puzzles. He came up with the idea to add more content to the show without extending the runtime. The show’s producer later added the Triple Toss-Up, and Pat suggested awarding $10,000 for solving all three.

A 2015 analysis by The Washington Post examined over 1,500 bonus puzzles from 2007 to 2015. It found that the letters H, G, P, and O were most common (excluding the automatically provided letters R, S, T, L, N, and E). Surprisingly, players tended to choose C, D, M, and A more often, even though those letters appeared less frequently in the puzzles according to the analysis.

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2026-06-16 04:48