Vanna White cherishes her Ken-nection with Pat Sajak.
“We call ourselves Ken and Barbie,” the Wheel of Fortune co-host, 66, said on Friday’s Good Morning America. “We’re not quite that today, but Ken and Barbie go together and always have.”
"When Pat told me he was going to retire, it’s like, oh my gosh. I’m not sure that I’m ready to retire. … I love my job. I love being here."@TheVannaWhite talks about her last season of @WheelofFortune with Pat Sajak and staying on the show. https://t.co/2wp8RJOsgO pic.twitter.com/nrcWFJ7y9K
— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 17, 2023
White admitted that she knows “everything” about Sajak, 77, after hosting the game show together for more than four decades.
“How do you describe being with someone for 41 years that you love and adore?” she added. “I know everything about him, when he walks in, when he walks up the stairs, if he’s in a good mood or a bad mood.”
In June, Sajak announced he would retire after the 41st season, which is currently airing, but White ultimately decided to stay on through the 2025–26 season, with Ryan Seacrest stepping in as Sajak’s successor.
“When Pat told me he was going to retire, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not sure that I’m ready to retire,'” White shared. “I thought about it and thought about it, and I just wasn’t ready to retire.”
She decided to stay on the show “because I’m not that tired and I love what I do … I genuinely do care about our contestants, and my favorite show is when they all win something big.” Vanna White.
Back in 2022, White reflected on her longtime partnership with Sajak in an interview with PEOPLE.
“He is so funny. He really is. We see each other every couple of weeks for a couple of days. It’s perfect,” she said. “Then we don’t see each other and then, we come back to work. And he is always making me laugh.”
“I think when [series creator] Merv Griffin chose both of us, 40 and 41 years ago, he saw something between us — a brother/sister-type relationship,” she added. “I think that is kind of what it is. He saw that we would be able to get along, I think. And we do. We are like a brother and sister team.” Pat Sajak and Vanna White.
She explained their bond is so strong that they are able to communicate without talking.
“It’s so funny. I can tell sometimes — and he can tell with me, without saying a word, ‘Oh, she’s in a bad mood. Oh, he’s in a bad mood. Don’t say anything to him now, just let him do his thing,'” she shared. “We speak each other’s language.”
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