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Tags: pat sajak | wheel of fortune | contestant | wrestle

Pat Sajak Wrestles With 'Wheel of Fortune' Contestant

Pat Sajak
"Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

By    |   Thursday, 23 March 2023 12:15 PM EDT

There's rarely a dull moment on the "Wheel of Fortune" set, and Tuesday's episode had viewers cheering on as Pat Sajak wrestled one of the contestants.

Fred Fletcher Jackson, a drama teacher and professional wrestler, managed to solve every puzzle given to him correctly, earning him a winning prize of $75,800, USA Today reported.

“Very rarely happens that we get someone who just swept everything,” Sajak said of Jackson's performance during the show, according to the outlet.

At one point during the show, Sajak, 76, asked a contestant whether he should "body slam" Jackson. He kept his word at the end of the show when, instead of offering Jackson a handshake, he wrestled him by placing Jackson in a playful armlock and putting his hand over his mouth.

"He got me genuinely," Jackson said while reflecting on the evening in a post-game interview with Sajak's daughter Maggie. "I was trying to counter his hammerlock that he had me in. I was trying to get behind him, and I wasn't going anywhere."

Jackson added that his "Wheel of Fortune” triumph was a full-circle moment.

"My mom says that my first words ever were, 'Buy a vowel,'" he continued. “'Wheel' was at the top of my list of dream-come-true scenarios in my life, and it's happening."

He concluded: "Dreams can come true, because mine just did."

Last year Sajak hinted that he may be retiring from "Wheel of Fortune," saying in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that "the end is near."

"In most television shows by this time, you would have said, That's probably enough, but this show will not die. It appears I may go before the show," he told the outlet.

"Years go by fast. We're getting near the end. It's been a long [time]. We're not going to do this for another 40 years. The end is near," he added.

Zoe Papadakis

Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


TheWire
There's rarely a dull moment on the "Wheel of Fortune" set, and Tuesday's episode had viewers cheering on as Pat Sajak wrestled one of the contestants.
pat sajak, wheel of fortune, contestant, wrestle
311
2023-15-23
Thursday, 23 March 2023 12:15 PM
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