Pat Sajak hosted his final episode of Wheel of Fortune earlier this month. He had hosted the beloved game show for 43 years.
Now, the ratings for his last episode have just been released, and they’ve confirmed that Sajak went out with a bang!
Sajak Goes Out With Huge Ratings
Entertainment Tonight reported that Sajak’s final Wheel of Fortune episode delivered the highest viewership of the game show in over four years and 1,072 episodes. A whopping 11.03 million people tuned in to say goodbye to Sajak, who had hosted Wheel of Fortune since December of 1981. This was the largest viewership for Wheel of Fortune since April 29, 2020.
On top of that, Sajak’s last episode was the most telecast for the week among homes, earning a 6.22 rating. Excluding live sports, Sajak’s final show was the most-watched program on broadcast or cable TV, at any time of day, for the week of June 3-9, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Only two NBA games were able to draw more viewers that week, with 12.31 million viewers watching games on June 9.
In fact, the entire last week that Sajak hosted Wheel of Fortune gave the show a ratings bump. For that week, the show averaged 8.5 million viewers and hit an 18-week high in household rating (5.0). This put Wheel of Fortune first among syndicated programming for June 3-9.
Related: ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ Host Pat Sajak Reveals Real Reason He’s Retiring
Sajak Went Out On Top
Finally, each of the five Wheel of Fortune episodes during Sajak’s final week ranked in the top 15 among all network, cable and syndicated telecasts for the week. It should be noted that there were around 28,000 of these telecasts in total that week, so making the top 15 is quite a feet.
This was the perfect way for someone as iconic as Sajak to go out.
“Well, the time has come to say goodbye,” Sajak said as he said goodbye to viewers at the end of his last show. “It’s been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade.”
“It’s been an incredible privilege to be invited into millions of homes night after night, year after year, decade after decade,” he added. “Thank you for allowing me into your lives.”
Check out Sajak’s full goodbye message in the video below.
Wheel Of Fortune Will Continue
In his 43 years on Wheel of Fortune, Sajak hosted over 8,000 episodes of the game show. In September of 2022, Sajak officially surpassed the former Price Is Right host Bob Barker as the longest-running host of any game show.
Sajak may be leaving, but Wheel of Fortune will continue in his absence. He is set to be replaced next season by the American Idol host Ryan Seacrest. Sajak’s longtime co-host Vanna White will be joining Seacrest. In September of last year, she has extended her contract for at least two more seasons.
“When I heard that Pat was retiring, I thought maybe I should retire too,” she told TV Insider last month. “But I’m not ready!”
“We’ll see toward the end of those two years how I feel,” she continued. “I thank God after all these years that I still love my job.”
Sajak is a true legend, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone else filling his shoes. While it’s sad to see him go, we’re certainly glad that he got to go out on a high with some stellar ratings!
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