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‘Wheel of Fortune’ Star Vanna White Reveals Why She’s Stayed on the Show for 40 Years

Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune has been in a celebratory mood lately with her 40-year anniversary on the show arriving. Fans and even her “TV husband” Pat Sajak have helped White pay homage to the time on the show. Yet 40 years is an awfully long time to be with one show or even one job. Why in the world has she stayed with the show?

“I mean, I’ve been happy,” White told PEOPLE in an interview. “Coming to work, it’s a happy place and most of the people here have been here for a very long time. So this is really a family to me. We’re all kind of connected and it’s a happy place to come to work. And I even like Pat Sajak.

‘Wheel of Fortune’ Star Vanna White Doesn’t Like All Of Her Outfits

“He’s my TV husband,” White said. “You know, we’ve been together … 40 years is a lot to be with somebody. We’ve been through a lot together.” Vanna White and Sajak were selected to be on the show by Merv Griffin. It was Griffin who created the game and brought it to television. These days, Vanna is doing a lot of reflecting and remembering about her time on the game show. One thing that she does recall is her first memory of working with Sajak. “I remember sitting in the makeup chair next to Pat when we first started, when I first started. And I turned to him and I said, ‘I wonder where we’ll be in 10 years,’” White, 65, said.

Ten years? Well, they passed that up a long time ago. it’s now 40 years for them. Sajak is actually at 41 years since he started one year earlier than White on Wheel of Fortune. “It’s been 40,” Vanna White said. “It’s been incredible. I’m so lucky and so happy.” For anyone who has watched White over the years, then you know that she’s had on different outfits. Numerous dresses and suits have found their way on to Vanna. While looking back on their time on the show, White admitted that she doesn’t “love” all of her outfits. “I don’t love every outfit I wear because I feel like there’s so many millions of people that are watching and have different tastes and I’m trying to please everybody,” White told PEOPLE.

Here’s something else people might not know. Pat Sajak didn’t have a lot of faith in White at first. He explained his reasoning in an interview with CBS’ Sunday Morning show back in 2020. “I didn’t recommend Vanna, and Vanna knows this,” Sajak said. “Not that she wasn’t lovely and wonderful and personable, all that, but she was the most nervous by far of any of them.”