Vanna White’s Salary on Wheel of Fortune Was at the Center of the Drama After Pat Sajak’s Exit

After reports that she was renegotiating her salary following Pat Sajak’s exit, fans have had countless questions about Vanna White’s salary on Wheel of Fortune per episode and how much she makes as the game show’s longtime co-host.

Wheel of Fortune is ABC’s popular game show that’s been on the air continuously since January 1975. In the hangman-based competition created by Merv Griffin, contestants can spin the giant carnival wheel and call a consonant, buy a vowel for $250 or solve the puzzle. Each contestant is worth the cash value of what the wheel lands on. They can continue spinning the wheel until they miss a letter, spin a bankrupt or lose a turn.

Sajak and White have hosted the game show since 1983. However, after more than four decades as its co-host, Sajak announced his retirement in 2023. Sajak’s exit also led White to allegedly renegotiate her salary for future seasons, which she’ll host alongside Sajak’s replacement, Ryan Seacrest. So, what is Vanna White’s salary on Wheel of Fortune per episode? We have the answer below.

What is Vanna White’s salary on Wheel of Fortune per episode?

According to Puck.News, White earned about $3 million annually prior to renegotiations. Wheel of Fortune Season 40 had 195 episodes, so White would have earned just over $15,000 per episode for the 2023-24 season. (It’s also worth noting that White has received bonuses over the years as well.) On the flip side, Forbes reported that Sajak earned $15 million per season (which is just under $77,000 per episode for Season 40). 

The pay discrepancy between White and Sajak is a substantial one. Puck claims that Vanna White had not received a raise in 18 years prior to Sajak’s exit announcement. Although Sajak is the main host and White is a co-host who taps screens to reveal the letter on the board, Puck reports that White has done a lot more publicity for the show than Sajak. As a result, White has allegedly hired an “aggressive new lawyer” named Bryan Freedman to help her get a raise for her new contract after the 2023-24 season. (Sony declined to comment). TMZ reported in September 2023, however, that White received a “substantial pay increase” after “very difficult negotiations” with Sony, with Freedman demanding that the company offer at least half of what Sajak made, which would’ve been around $7.5 million per season, though TMZ didn’t confirm the exact amount of White’s new salary.

TMZ reported in July 2023 that White has negotiated her deal for the Celebrity version of Wheel of Fortune  Insiders told the site that White “wanted 50% of what Pat was making, but Sony would not disclose Pat’s salary for Celebrity Wheel.” Sources told TMZ that Sajak earns north of $400k per episode. In the end, White was allegedly able to settle for $100K an episode, a reported substantial bump from her last contract. One of the problems insiders allege is that “Sony believes they ended up paying Pat too much and they don’t want to use his salary for comparability. Apparently, that hasn’t sat well with Team Vanna,” TMZ said in the report. “It’s gonna get ugly if they [Sony] don’t get more serious,” another source claimed.

Shortly after TMZ shared the news, our sister site Deadline also reported that White renegotiated her deal for Celebrity Wheel of Fortune which allegedly involved “a significant salary increase.”

According to Celebrity Net Worth, White has $85 million to her name (which is $10 million more than Sajak’s net worth). This is partially thanks to real estate investments White made with her former husband, real estate developer and restaurateur, George Santo Pietro. Celebrity Net Worth reports Sajak’s net worth at around $75 million annually. The site also revealed that Wheel isn’t even Pat or Vanna’s main source of income – they make more money “licensing their images to casino slot machines than they do from the game show itself.” In exchange for licensing their images, the hosts earn at least $15 million per year in royalties, licensing fees and other payments.

Seacrest said that he was excited to work alongside White when he joins the show in Season 42. “I can’t wait to continue the tradition of spinning the wheel and working alongside the great Vanna White,” he wrote in an Instagram statement. This comes after additional reports from Puck that Sony executives were contemplating “eliminating” White’s role because it might no longer be necessary if Wheel replaces Sajak with an established name, such as Ryan Seacrest or these other high-profile contenders.

How was Vanna White cast on Wheel of Fortune?

Sajak and White have been the hosts of the nighttime version of Wheel of Fortune since its debut in 1983. White, a pageant queen whose prior game-show experience was a brief stint on The Price Is Right, wrote into Wheel of Fortune hoping that she could appear as a contestant. “They said, ‘If you’re ever in Los Angeles, you can come in and audition,’” White recalled to Variety in September 2017. “Little did I know I was going to come in and audition for the actual job!” In the audition, White said she was the “most nervous” in her life and could barely talk because she wanted the job so badly.

The show credits White’s arrival for helping the show become the nighttime syndicated version that became so widely successful in the TV market. “I remember them saying 100 million people a week watch our show,” White also told Variety. “It’s like, ‘Whoa, I’ve been in a stadium with 60,000 people, and that’s a lot of people. I guess we have something here.’” White and Sajak also c-host Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, a spin-off of the game series that’s just for celebrity contestants. Instead of receiving the prize money for themselves, the stars try to win for the charity of their choice.

After hosting Wheel of Fortune alongside White for four decades, Sajak announced in June 2023 that Season 41 will be his last. “Well, the time has come,” Sajak said in a statement. “I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all.” In previous interviews, Sajak called him and White a “package deal” and noted that when they retire, they will do so simultaneously. But that doesn’t seem to be the case, as White will continue on without him.

While Sajak hinted in recent years that his days on Wheel were numbered, White’s response was always the complete opposite. In fact, she never wanted to “think” about leaving the show. “I just visualize us just being there. I can’t think beyond that… I can’t imagine. Everybody relates Wheel of Fortune to Pat and Vanna. We’re like Ken and Barbie, you know?” she told People in December 2022. “We’ve been in everybody’s homes for 40 years, so it would be weird having somebody else turn my letters,” she said.