Vanna White hosts Wheel of Fortune for first time while Pat Sajak recovers from emergency surgery

After 37 years of revealing the letterboards, Vanna White hosted Wheel of Fortune for the first time.

On Monday, White took over for Pat Sajak while the longtime host continues recovering from emergency surgery he underwent to correct a blocked intestine last month. The procedure was successful, and White will continue filling in as host for the next 3 weeks.

While her first episode as host was successful, she did have some fun making jokes at her own expense when making a mistake by reading the wrong number amount on the wheel. “Oh no, I’m looking at the wrong arrow,” she said as the audience laughed. “How do you do this show?”

While White acts as host, Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters will take over White’s normal role at the letterboard for the first two weeks of episodes. The third week’s episodes will have a surprise guest handling the letterboard reveals.

“I’ve never even thought of that in 37 years,” White told The New York Times of taking over as the host, even temporarily. “And to be asked almost on the spot, ‘How do you feel about hosting the show?’ Like, what?! Normally I just stand there and I turn my letters, and I’m just happy as can be not having to worry about anything else. But here I am controlling the game. So logistically, it was much harder. But I know every aspect of the game, which helped so much.”

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