‘Wheel of Fortune’: Vanna White Apologizes After Contestant Reveals Past Encounter
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Her time on the Wheel of Fortune stage wasn’t the first instance of one of the contestants of the September 21 episode sharing space with Vanna White.
After Beryl New, from Topeka, Kansas, correctly guessed the opening puzzle (a Phrase, “I Like Your Style”), host Pat Sajak kicked off the interview portion by revealing that she once met White at an airport. “I did. I met her in the Myrtle Beach Airport in I think 2015. She was so kind. She let me take a picture with her,” Beryl explained. “She was carrying a pound cake that her friend had made for her, taking it back home. She wouldn’t share the pound cake, but she did share a picture.”
White smiled as she listened to the story, and after, Sajak remarked, “She’s always great and she’s unfailingly polite to people.”
Beryl did make it to the final round, but she couldn’t figure out the puzzle, a Phrase (“Build a Firm Foundation”), and lost, as she suspected, $100,000. (She won $28,400.) However, Sajak told her, “you stay right here because we have something else to do with you at the close of the show.”
Sajak recalled the part of Beryl’s story about White not giving her any pound cake and called out, “Vanna, you need to make up for this!” White then came out with a slice for Beryl and told her, “I’m sorry I didn’t give you any of my pound cake.” The two laughed when Sajak took the plate.
Season 41 is Sajak’s last with Wheel of Fortune, but White is staying on, for at least another two years, with the report of her new contract coming on September 19. Ryan Seacrest will be taking over as host, beginning with Season 42, and he shared his reaction to White’s contract as part of an interview with Willie Geist for Sunday TODAY.
“This is such great news,” he said. “Vanna has been such a staple on that show and in our living rooms for so many years. I’ve been very excited to work with her but now that it’s official I can say, ‘Congratulations, Vanna.’ I can’t wait.”
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