'Wheel of Fortune' host Pat Sajak delivers speech during final episode
Pat Sajak gives an emotional speech during his final episode of "Wheel of Fortune." (Video courtesy of Sony Pictures)
Although Pat Sajak has spun his last spin, the game show veteran isn’t exactly retiring.
Sajak’s last "Wheel of Fortune" episode aired Friday evening, but the host of 42 years already has a new job lined up.
The 77-year-old will be playing the antagonist in the 1962 play "Prescription: Murder," which inspired the Peter Falk-led "Columbo" pilot of the same name and the detective series that ran until 2003.
Sajak will play a psychiatrist who plots with his mistress to murder his wife and then is pursued relentlessly by the unassuming LAPD lieutenant, who will be played by Hawaii news anchor Joe Moore at the Hawaii Theatre Centre in Honolulu.
PAT SAJAK SHARES 6-WORD MESSAGE TO FANS IN ‘WHEEL OF FORTUNE’ FAREWELL
Pat Sajak's last "Wheel of Fortune" episode aired on Friday. (Ricky Middlesworth/ABC via Getty Images)
"Pat Sajak, just retired as host of the popular Wheel of Fortune game show following 41 seasons, and his long-time buddy Joe Moore return to the Hawaii Theatre Center main stage in 2025, starring in William Link and Richard Levinson’s original Columbo mystery thriller, Prescription: Murder, with all of the net proceeds for the show going to support the Hawaii Theatre Center," the theater said on its website.
Sajak will be performing at the theater from July 31 to Aug. 10, 2025.
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Sajak and Moore have been friends for decades since they first served together at the American Forces Vietnam Network in Saigon in 1968, and they have performed in nine plays together since, according to Variety.
They first starred together in 1993 in Moore’s original play "Prophecy and Honor" and most recently in "The Sunshine Boys" last year.
Most of their plays together have been to raise money for the Hawaii Theatre.
Moore is well known in Hawaii, having been in broadcasting there since 1969, according to Variety.
Sajak gave an emotional goodbye during his last "Wheel" episode on Friday, saying, "Well, the time has come to say goodbye. I have a few thanks and acknowledgments before I go, and I want to start with all watching out there. It's been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade."
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"I always felt that the privilege came with the responsibility to keep this daily half hour a safe place for family fun," he continued. "No social issues, no politics, nothing embarrassing I hope, just a game."
Pat Sajak and Vanna White in the early 1900s. The pair started co-hosting the show in 1982. (Herb Ball/NBCU Photo Bank)
"But gradually it became more than that," he added. " A place where kids learned their letters, where people from other countries honed their English skills, where families came together along with friends and neighbors, and entire generations."
"What an honor to play even a small part in all of that," Sajak concluded. "Thank you for allowing me into your lives."
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Sajak and co-host Vanna White — who will remain on the show — started their record-setting tenure on "Wheel" in 1982, seven years after the show premiered with Chuck Woolery as a host.
Together, the two have done more than 8,000 episodes. Ryan Seacrest will be taking over as co-host.
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