Pat Sajak Net Worth and Salary: Pat Sajak is a former weatherman, current television personality, actor and game show host who has a net worth of $70 million. Sajak is best known for being the longtime host of the game show Wheel of Fortune.
Personal Life: Pat Sajak was born Patrick Leonard Sajdak on October 26, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in Chicago, he was the son of Joyce Helen and Leonard Anthony Sajdak. All his grandparents were Poles. Pat’s father died when he was young and his mother remarried. Sajak attended Farragut High School and graduated in 1964. He attended Columbia College Chicago and worked as a receptionist at the Palmer House Hotel.
During his studies, Sajak’s instructor told him on the radio that the local radio station WEDC was looking for a news anchor. He applied and ended up landing on the station’s 6am timeslot. Sajak enlisted in the US Army in 1968 during the Vietnam War. While serving in the Army, he DJed for Armed Forces Radio. While DJing, he began each show with the line “Good morning, Vietnam!”, just like Robin Williams’ character in the film of the same name. In the early 1970s, Sajak DJed in Nashville from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon show.
In the late 1970s, Sajak moved to Los Angeles and sought work in the entertainment industry. Soon after, in 1977, he landed a full-time job as a weatherman at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.
In 1981, game show impresario Merv Griffin offered Pat the opportunity to host Chuck Woolery’s Wheel of Fortune. Unfortunately, Fred Silverman, NBC’s president at the time, turned down the idea of hiring Sajak because he was “too local.” As a result, Merv Griffin closed the entire series entirely and refused to film new episodes until Sajak was hired. Sajak has hosted the daytime and syndicated evening versions of Wheel of Fortune for over 30 years. In 2018, Sajak became the longest-serving game show host, even surpassing Price is Right’s Bob Barker. On March 22, 2019, he was honored with this title by the Guinness World Records. Pat Sajak’s contract as Wheel of Fortune host runs until 2022.
Personality: Sajak appeared in the 1982 comedy Airline II: The Sequel. His role was that of a Buffalo, New York news anchor. Pat had his own short-lived late-night talk show on CBS, The Pat Sajak Show. He left the daytime version of Wheel of Fortune when the show aired. Dan Miller, a former co-host, served as Sajak’s mate. The premiere took place in January 1989, and the last program aired in April 1990.
Sajak appeared as a guest presenter on Super Password several times from 1984-1989, as well as on Password Plus. He was also a guest host on the game shows Dream House and Just Men! Sajak was a regular backup guest presenter for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly. In 2003, Sajak hosted Fox News’ Pat Sajak Weekend and Pat Sajak Baseball Lesson, a syndicated radio sports talk show. Sajak became an investor in the Golden Baseball League, an independent professional baseball league, in 2005.
He serves on the board of trustees and is vice chairman at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan. Sajak is an outside director of Eagle Publishing, a conservative publishing house. Sajak is a regular contributor to podcasts and posters on the conservative blog ricochet.com. He began writing for the National Review Online in 2010. He is also the author of several jigsaw puzzles, the most famous of which is 2007’s Letters of Fortune.
In the ’80s, Sajak was parodied in a Sesame Street skit; a Muppet named Pat Playjacks hosted “Squeal of Fortune”. Also in the 1980s, Martin Short based a Pat Sajak character, Ed Grimley, on the sketch comedy shows SCTV and Saturday Night Live. In 1992, Sajak had a special guest starring role on the television show The Commish. In 1993, Sajak appeared in Days of Our Lives and also appeared as himself in the children’s cartoon Rugrats. Sajak and Vanna White portrayed themselves in a 1986 episode of the NBC sitcom 227. In 2001, he appeared as himself on the sitcom The King of Queens. In a Season 4 episode of The A-Team, Pat and Vanna filmed a cameo.
Personal Life: Sajak married photographer Lesly Brown Sajak in December 1989 in Annapolis, Maryland. He was previously married to an unknown woman, unknown to the press, from 1979-1986. Pat and Lesly have two children together, a son, Patrick Michael James Sajak, born in 1990, and a daughter, Maggie Marie Sajak, born in 1995. Maggie is an aspiring country singer who has released three singles. The couple lives in Severna Park, Maryland and they have a second home in Los Angeles. Pat Sajak has admitted to being a climate change skeptic. He also financially supports the Young America’s Foundation, whose goal is to nurture conservative speakers on college campuses across the country. The Sajak family are members of the Churches of Christ. In November 2019, Pat underwent emergency bowel surgery, to remove a clog. Vanna White received him in his place while he was recovering. Three weeks later, on December 5, 2019, he returned to work.
Pat and Vanna record four days a month. That’s 48 days of work a year to make $15 or $10 million a year. That means Vanna earns $208,333 per day worked. Pat earns $312,500 per day worked. With a per show breakdown, Pat Sajak earns $52,083 per show and Vanna White earns $34,722 per show.
| Assets: | $70 million |
| Salary: | $15 million |
| Birth date: | Oct 26, 1946 (73 years old) |
| Gender: | Masculine |
| Height: | 5ft 9in (1.77m) |
| Job: | Game Show Host, Talk Show Host, Actor, Radio Host, Film Producer, TV Producer |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
| Last updated: | 2020 |
