Pat Sajak has a history of speaking his mind when it comes to what contestants say or do on Wheel of Fortune. That even includes dismissing some wistful nostalgia when the time is right. That time came last week during a Wheel of Fortune episode where the show’s host took some time to roast both the show’s past and a contestant yearning for it, which made for a lot of people looking back on what Wheel of Fortune used to be like.
TV Line has video of the moment, where Sajak recalled a contestant who said they missed the throwback “shopping segment,” in which contestants could use their winnings to secure physical prizes by way of shouting them out as their winning total went down to nothing. It’s part of the show that has been long phased out, and Sajak made it clear that he has no interest in bringing it back by calling it “the most boring three minutes of television” when the contestant brought it up.
He then went back for seconds in the show’s final moments.
Unsatisfied with his first take’s brevity, Sajak later launched into a rant at Wednesday’s show closing, confessing to co-host Vanna White that he’s always loathed the classic shopping spree gimmick.
“I don’t miss them,” he confessed on air. “In retrospect [you think], ‘Oh, that was kind of fun,’ but, really, it was this thing going around with the [contestant’s] head in a circle … It was really not exciting television. We like it just the way it is.”
White politely agreed their beloved program “is so much better now,” as they signed off.
You can see the element in action here, immortalized in a YouTube video because of a joke a contestant makes about a decorative pig, which then stares deeply into your soul to rob you of something that you’ll never get back.
Just from a tax perspective alone, the lump sum of a cash prize is much better and useful than a bunch of random “camping” equipment or whatever the Wheel staff would assemble for contestants. Cash is king, baby. Sajak made it clear that he agrees, which thankfully means you won’t see that pig on air in HD anytime soon.
[via New York Post]
