Maggie and Pat Sajak
Pat Sajak is “the best dad in the world” to daughter Maggie Sajak, who’s learned plenty from the TV icon about making her own mark on Wheel of Fortune.
“Being able to work with him for the last couple years, he’s taught me so much about just how to balance family and work and to just keep a really good head on your shoulders,” Maggie, 29, exclusively told Us Weekly at the iHeartRadio Music Festival on Saturday, September 21. “We really are, like, that close; he’s really my hero.”
Maggie further gave Us the best pieces of advice that she’s received from her father.
“He always stresses being prepared and doing the best you can in whatever situation you’re in, because you never know what you’re going to be thrown into,” she explained. “He’s like, ‘Just do the best you can wherever you are, [and] if it’s a little moment every interaction you have, make it special for the contestants, especially when we’re on the show.’”
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Pat, 77, hosted Wheel of Fortune for 41 years, ultimately retiring in June. Maggie, whom Pat shares with wife Lesly Brown alongside son Patrick, joined Wheel of Fortune in 2021 as the official social correspondent.
“[As] the social correspondent for the show, we do fun behind-the-scenes things and we get to come to fun things like the iHeartRadio Music Festival,” Maggie told Us, noting her intentions to uphold her father’s game show legacy. “I mean, the show means so much to me and to my family, so we’re always gonna want that to stay so special and it will. It is in great hands so we’re excited to see where it goes.”
Ryan Seacrest is the new host of Wheel of Fortune, with Maggie telling Us that “he’s awesome” in the role.
Maggie Sajak
“It’s great,” Maggie gushed at the Las Vegas festival. “He’s so professional — as I’m sure you would assume — but he really appreciates the show and knows how important it is. You can really tell by how prepared he is and how he treats the contestants and how he treats the whole experience.”
After watching her father’s tenure and joining herself several years ago, Maggie also got to see how special Wheel of Fortune is to viewers and contestants.
“It’s such a special show to so many people and it’s more than just a show, which sounds kinda cheesy, but it really is,” Maggie told Us. “I mean, this is bonding among generations. This is the time that families eat dinner together. … So, when people have come up to my dad or told me how special the show is to them, it goes beyond just ‘I love that show,’ and to be a part of it now is really meaningful to me.”
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Maggie also sees Pat’s longtime cohost Vanna White, who remains on the show with Seacrest, as part of the Sajak family.
“We jokingly say she’s Aunt Vanna, but I have known her since before I was born,” Maggie quipped. “She’s great [and] I love being able to see her now at work. We have a lot of fun; I pull her into TikToks I’m doing and things like that.”
She continued, “She really is such an icon, such a legend and such a great person too. She’s as sweet as she seems.”
With reporting by Christine Maddela