Vanna White on hosting Wheel of Fortune: "I know every aspect of the game, which helped so much"

The New York Times

Tonight isn't the first time the longtime Pat Sajak sidekick has hosted Wheel of Fortune. In 1996, White and Pat Sajak switched places for one round when he had laryngitis. But White has never hosted an entire episode, which she will do starting tonight, after Sajak had emergency surgery last month to correct a blocked intestine. “I’ve never even thought of that in 37 years,” White said in an interview with The New York Times last week, “and to be asked almost on the spot, ‘How do you feel about hosting the show?’ Like, what?!” Did she have any nerves? “Oh, my gosh, that’s an understatement,” she said. “I was very nervous.” Sajak has hosted continuously for 35 years, except for April Fool's Day 1997 when he and Jeopardy!'s Alex Trebek swapped jobs. What about White's high heels? “Being behind the home base, I didn’t have to wear shoes,” she said. “So I took my shoes off during the show. It was great.” White said from her experience, she'd like to see more female game show hosts. “Everybody’s entitled to host the show: female, male, everyone,” she said. “It would be fun to see more women up there doing that. If that’s what they want to do.”