Pat Sajak used to toss back margaritas with Vanna White before hosting “Wheel of Fortune!” Sajak’s been hosting the hit game show since 1981, so you can’t really blame the guy. But actually, it was the earlier days that he admits to being drunk on camera.
“When I first started and was much younger and could tolerate those things, we had a different show then. You didn’t win money. You won fake money with which you could buy cheesy prizes,” Sajak revealed during an interview on ” Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable.”
So it was totally okay because they were playing with fake money! Okay, that might not be the real reason, but his actual explanation is that it took the producers too long to set up the prizes, leaving Pat and Vanna dinner breaks of more than 2 hours. So they would kill time at a Mexican restaurant across the street, often drinking 4 or 5 margaritas before returning to the show.
“Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. They’re really good tapes to get a hold of,” said Sajak, adding that his average number of drinks was four.
“I had a great time. I have no idea if the shows were any good, but no one said anything, so I guess I did OK,” Sajak said.
He says he’s no longer getting drunk before “Wheel of Fortune.” Unfortunately.
