This story makes me laugh! Pat admitted in an interview that he and Vanna White would go get drinks before taping episodes of the game show…and they were so drunk they’d have problems recognizing letters of the alphabet. Now, that is definitely a sign of being drunk.
When asked by Dan Le Batard of Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable, which airs on ESPN 2, if he ever hosted the show while intoxicated, Sajak, 65, came clean.
“Yes,” the TV veteran admitted with a laugh. “When I first started and was much younger and could tolerate those things. We had a different show then.”
With a two-and-a-half hour dinner break during the game show’s early format, Sajak and White would drop by Los Arcos, a Mexican joint in Burbank, for margaritas.
“Vanna and I would … have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet,” he says. “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 okay.”
Though he insists he no longer imbibes while at work, Sajak has a feeling those old shows would be fun to watch. “They’re really great tapes to get a hold of,” he says.
The only thing that would make this story better, is if he STILL did it! And none of us were any the wiser! (well, me and everyone’s grandparents who still watch this show) (sidebar: My mom thinks I should go on this show because I can do puzzles fast. That’s my calling, word puzzles). And yes, Pat, I hope someone gets some especially good drunk clips together and saves us all the trouble by putting them on Youtube. One can dream!
