Pat Sajak’s Real Height Revealed & Why He Always Looked So Short on ‘Wheel of Fortune’
After 43 years hosting Wheel of Fortune, Pat Sajak walked off into the sunset earlier this month, but one question still lingers for many fans: just how tall is he?
Because of the way the show looks on television, many long-time viewers assumed Sajak was short. A lot of the time, Sajak stood in front of a massive puzzle board, a large spinning wheel, or a podium, which made his height appear smaller than it really was.
ScreenRant reports that a production oversight in the early days of the show caused people to think Sajak was shorter than he truly was. It was because back then, shorter contestants were placed on boxes so that they could see over the podium and spin the wheel. As a result, those contestants often towered over Sajak when he came over to speak to them.
Sajak touched on this in a 2015 interview with WLKY, revealing, “When the show first started, we would put shorter players on boxes, but [the] problem is, I would walk next to a great-grandmother on the show, and I would walk next to her, and people thought I was a jockey.”
He added, “So now we are on risers, and when they go up, I go up, and we stay about the same size. But it got engrained in people that I was about 4 feet 3.”
ABC/Christopher Willard
According to IMDB, the Daytime Emmy-winning host’s height is actually 5 ft 10, which makes him fairly tall. In comparison, his long-time co-host, Vanna White, is 5 ft 6. However, White usually wore heels on the show, which, again, made Sajak appear shorter than in reality.
Sajak’s final Wheel episode aired on June 7, bringing an end to a legendary 43-year career as the show’s host. In the fall, Ryan Seacrest will take over as host for Season 42, and it seems the American Idol presenter may face similar height-based challenges.
Pat Sajak and Vanna White; Sony Pictures TV / Courtesy: Everett Collection
IMDB reports Seacrest’s height as 5 ft 8, two inches shorter than Sajak, so he might also end up appearing shorter than White. That is so long as White sticks with the show, as there are already reports that the long-time letter-turner is thinking about stepping away.
Right now, though, Seacrest is simply hoping he can do Sajak proud when it comes to helming the iconic game show.
“There’s no one better than Pat Sajak,” Seacrest told Entertainment Tonight. “He is so smooth and seamless. He’s beloved by the country. So I feel a lot of pressure. [But] I’m really excited. I can’t wait to just give away a bunch of money to people every night.”
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