Pat Sajak’s snarkiest ‘Wheel of Fortune’ moments — from tackling a contestant, to yelling ‘shut up’
The snark is alive in Pat Sajak.
The “Wheel of Fortune” host, 77, has gotten sassy with the contestants from time to time over his 40+ years hosting the beloved game show opposite letter-turner Vanna White.
Sajak has been especially mouthy — in an endearing way, of course — in the last few years leading up to his final episode that airs Friday.
While some viewers are excited for Ryan Seacrest to step in as host, the show will not be the same without Sajak.
He’s the only game show host who can give attitude to the contestants and get away with it.
Here are Sajak’s snarkiest moments ever on “Wheel of Fortune.”
“Never interrupt me”
In December 2020, Sajak got annoyed with a contestant named Sheryl after she got a little too excited several times during the episode, including when she interrupted his Dick’s Goods sponsor plug.
“Never interrupt me,” Sajak sternly told Sheryl. “Never, never interrupt a plug. You can do anything else but don’t interrupt.”
He laughed off the exchange afterward and carried on with the show.
Mocking a contestant’s story
Sajak made fun of contestant Scott Ingwersen’s introduction story during an episode in March 2022.
Ingwersen told viewers that when he was 12 years old his toe got cut off when he fell off a speed bike, and then paramedics reattached his toe.
“That may have been the most pointless story ever told,” Sajak said to Ingwersen.
“Great, I’ll take it,” Ingwersen responded.
“And you told it, Scott. Congratulations to you,” the host added.
The chokehold
Sajak infamously tackled a contestant named Fred Jackson and put him in a chokehold during an episode that aired in March 2023.
Jackson, who had told Sajak that he’s a professional wrestler who does the sport “for fun,” hugged someone onstage when he won $75,800.
Then, Sajak tackled Jackson, put Jackson’s arm behind his back, and tried to put him in a headlock.
He also asked the other contestants if they wanted him to body-slam Jackson on their behalf.
Protecting his envelope
Sajak snapped at fan-favorite contestant Christian Dixie in May 2023 when Dixie grabbed the envelope from Sajak in the game show’s bonus round.
“In fairness, we used to do it that way; the player would pick up the thing,” explained Sajak to both Dixie and the audience. “Don’t ever do it again.”
The crowd nervously chucked after the incident.
Dixie, meanwhile, joked that if he did do it again he would just “take over” Sajak’s position as host.
“This is my show”
In November 2023, Sajak confronted contestant Michael Colen during a commercial break — after the “Wheel of Fortune” host began to feel upstaged.
“He came up to me and just told me, ‘Hey, Michael, you know this is my show, right?’” Colen recalled to Fox News. “And I politely said, ‘Yes, sir, it is your show for 41 years.’”
“But it was stern,” Colen added. “There was a stern drop of sternness to it.”
“It was two alphas going at it,” Colen added. “I’m an acquired taste. And … I’ve been putting out music for 30 years, so I have to say I’m an acquired taste.”
Colen noted that it took Sajak “a quick minute to get used to” him during the episode.
Colen later told The Post that he believed Sajak wanted him to “tone it down a bit” but ultimately “ended up enjoying himself.”
“I believe he wanted me to succeed and have a good show, so he was giving me a little direction,” he told The Post. “The interaction was not ill-toned.”
“It’s getting testy here on Christmas”
In December 2023, Sajak lobbied a verbal bomb at player Jill who failed to guess the phrase from the letter puzzle “_ _ _ C _ N _ _ _ R _ _ _ N _ _ N.” (The answer was “Voicing our opinion”)
“What kind of puzzle is that?” Jill asked.
Sajak quipped, “It’s a puzzle you didn’t solve.”
Poking fun at his own infamous attitude, Sajak then said, “It’s getting testy here on Christmas.”
At the end of the episode, Sajak tried to make light of the matter and jokingly gave a recap of what happened.
“You had a puzzle that you think you should have solved, and you didn’t,” he said to Jill. “And then she blamed me during [the] commercial [break].”
What a “downer”
In December 2023, Sajak also joked with a contestant when she revealed that two of her fish had killed her other aquatic pets.
“Really a downer,” Sajak mumbled to Mariha Feliciano. “I don’t wanna go on.”
Feliciano insisted that the other fish were “still alive.” Sajak then interjected: “Let’s go on.”
Telling a contestant to “shut up”
On a January 2024 episode, Sajak was in the middle of telling contestant Angela Omezie that she won the round when she suddenly screamed out loud and interrupted him.
“Shut up,” Omezie screeched, as Sajak jokingly responded, “You didn’t mean that personally.”
“No … never,” she said.
After Omezie clapped when she heard that she won the round with $11,900, Sajak told her to “shut up,” to match her energy.
No bragging rights
Sajak once teased a contestant who revealed that he was an expert at playing “Simon Says.”
“People like to brag about their skills,” Sajak said at the time. “I’m not sure I would brag about this when you’re an expert at doing ‘Simon Says.’ ”
Despite the comment, contestant Joel Crandall took it in stride and said that the talent actually “comes in handy.”
“You just get in a spot where somebody needs to fill space for a little bit of time,” he explained.
“You know something about that,” he added, prompting Sajak to look startled.
“And then you just have to do something to be able to keep things going,” he concluded.
A surprised Sajak replied: “Simon says: ‘What does he mean by that?’”
Superfood Smoothie
During his third-to-last episode as host, Sajak yelled at contestant Nonie Lewis for her disastrous answer while trying to solve the phrase “S_PER_OOD SMOOTHIE.”
She incorrectly guessed “Supergood Smoothie” — prompting Sajak to shout, “No!”
He then lowered his tone and continued, “I’m so sorry, it’s not correct.”
Lewis was distraught when she realized the correct answer was “Superfood Smoothie.”
“So not close”
Also during the June 5 episode, Sajak made fun of a contestant named Allison for losing the bonus round.
She couldn’t solve the puzzle phrase “_ _ _ T S _ N D _ _ G _ R E S,” guessing “Coats And Hangers.”
“Ooooh, you were so not close,” Sajak said as the buzzer went off.
She laughed off his insult and said, “I’d rather that be the case, you know?”
“I know, ’cause then you don’t have to kick yourself for that,” Sajak said.
Sajak’s final episode on “Wheel of Fortune” airs Friday, June 7, on ABC.
