Wheel Of Fortune Tony

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Jan. 7 (UPI) --Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak says Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will have a 'different' vibe than the regular show.

He was a singer, actor and longtime host of 'The Merv Griffin Show.' He created 'Jeopardy' and 'Wheel of Fortune,' but to his only child, Tony Griffin, he was just dad. Tony remembers his father. Play games, enter to win cash and prizes, apply to be a contestant and get to know Pat and Vanna. Official Wheel of Fortune website.

Sajak, 74, shared details about the new, star-studded version of the show in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Thursday.

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Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will premiere Thursday at 8 p.m. EST on ABC. The series will feature Leslie Jones, Tony Hawk, Chrissy Metz, Drew Carey, Chris Harrison, Jennie Garth and other stars as contestants.

Sajak said Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will be played the same as the regular game but have a different vibe.

'We've jazzed up the set a bit, made it look a little more prime-timey, whatever that means. And it's going to be a different kind of vibe,' Sajak shared.

'We want [the contestants] to play a good, solid game, but we're mainly there to have fun. It'll be a little lighter in attitude,' he added.

Sajak said the Celebrity version was a long time coming but that the timing seemed right 'because of what's going on in the world.'

'Wheel of Fortune is kind of a sign of normalcy for people; they were very glad to have us back on the air. So this seemed like a good time to expand into primetime a little bit, at least one time, and extend that normalcy,' he said.

Thursday's episode will feature Jones, Hawk and Chandra Wilson. ABC shared a teaser for the episode Wednesday that shows Hawk about to solve a puzzle.

Really, @tonyhawk?! Don't miss a moment of #CelebrityWheelOfFortune starting TOMORROW at 8|7c! pic.twitter.com/7tZQW1uqOW— ABC (@ABCNetwork) January 6, 2021

Wheel of Fortuneresumed production in July after shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show's 38th season premiered in September.

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Wheel Of Fortune Tony Production Error

David Livingston/Getty Images

It's one of those pop culture phenomena that seems to have been around forever — and depending on how old you are, relatively speaking, it has been. It's Wheel of Fortune, a game show and cash cow created by Merv Griffin, the man who also gave us Jeopardy!, in 1975. (Don't even bother trying to figure it out in dog years.) Current co-star Pat Sajak has been meeting and greeting contestants of all stripes for most of that period, moving from full-time Los Angeles weatherman to game-show host in 1981.

The next year history began to be made in earnest when he was joined by Vanna White, who, according to Biography, triumphed over 200 other applicants to earn the job of letter-turner. The work seems to agree with both of them; in 2019 Sajak broke Bob Barker's record for hosting a game show. Wheel is the longest-running syndicated game show ever, not to mention its more than 60 international editions.

Wheel

Wheel Of Fortune Tony Production Issue

And the category is 'Oops, our bad'

As far as contestants are concerned, auditions are held across this great land of ours via a 35-foot yellow recreational vehicle, sometimes called the WheelMobile. According to the Paley Center for Media website, Paleymatters, over 1 million people have taken a shot at TV greatness. The rules of the game state that a person may compete only once. Or can they?

On April 6, 2020, contestant Tony Harrison made a surprise second appearance on Wheel, according to AOL's news site, which quotes Sajak's introduction: 'If Tony looks familiar — this is Tony Harrison, who's been here before.' In something of an 'Oops, our bad,' moment, Sajak added, 'We had a little production issue' during Harrison's first try, 'and in the interests of fairness, we brought Tony back.' What was the issue? Sajak didn't say. Alert viewers, per Yahoo, remembered that Harrison appeared on the show in 2017. He made it to the bonus round, but wasn't given the category he requested.

Wheel Of Fortune Tonight Show

Harrison finished the 2020 game up more than $93,000.





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