Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White Scolds Pat Sajak for Faking His Death to Tease His Wife

Vanna White and Pat Sajak CBS
Not amused! Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White doesn’t approve of a prank her cohost, Pat Sajak, likes to play on his wife, Lesly Brown.

“I do this thing I do [at] every one of Lesly’s birthdays and she absolutely hates it,” Sajak, 76, said toward the end of the game show on Friday, April 21. “We put a cake in front of her, she closes her eyes, she makes a wish, and when she blows out the candle, I clutch my heart and fall to the ground.”

The Illinois native — who has hosted the program since 1981 — continued: “She never finds that amusing, I don’t understand.”

Sajak then turned to White, 66, who was grimacing at the audience, and asked, “Don’t you find that funny?” The former pageant queen sternly replied, “No.”

Sajak shot back, “OK,” and continued to laugh as the credits rolled.

The Daytime Emmy nominee wed Brown, 58, in 1989. The couple share two children: son Patrick, 32, and daughter Maggie, 28. Pat was previously married to Sherill Sajak from 1979 to 1986. Although White’s recent scolding of her cohost was uncharacteristic, Pat has received plenty of criticism from viewers as of late.

Earlier this month, Wheel of Fortune fans accused the former disc jockey of robbing college-aged contestant Alexa of a $100k jackpot. To some viewers, it sounded like Alexa solved the final puzzle in the nick of time, but according to Pat, she flubbed the response. The correct answer was “JUST WINGING IT,” which some fans were certain she said before the buzzer sounded.

“I’m absolutely certain that the first thing she said was, ‘Just winging it.’ You owe that young woman an apology and $100,000!” one viewer tweeted after the April 6 broadcast.

Another chimed in: “Lifelong watcher here! Alexa got robbed tonight. Her first attempt was, ‘Just winging it!’ I’ve rewatched it a dozen times — you guys goofed. Give her the $100k she rightly won!”

A third social media user was more direct with their criticism, quipping, “Quit screwing your contestant.”

Pat Sajak and Lesly Brown David Buchan/Shutterstock
Pat has also made headlines for getting impatient with participants. In March, he snapped at contestant Nicole after she waited until she had two unknown letters remaining to take a guess.

“Please, solve the darn puzzle!” he yelled.

After Nicole guessed correctly, the former weather anchor seemingly mocked how long she’d taken.

“It’s a horrible moment when you know that, ‘Everyone in America knows what this is, why don’t I?’ But you got it,” he said. “We appreciate that you pretended you didn’t know until the end. You increased the drama and that was great.”

Pat previously hinted that his tenure on the show could be coming to a close in the not-so-distant future.

“We’re getting near the end,” he told Entertainment Tonight in September 2022. “We’re not gonna do this for another 40 years. The end is near.”