Califon ProductionsAs Maggie Sajak put it, "S _ R P R _ S E !"
Since Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak underwent emergency surgery to "correct a blocked intestine" in November 2019, there's been a little rearranging at his famed longtime game show to make up for his absence. While co-host Vanna White has been filling in for him, a somewhat new face popped up on our small screens on Monday night's episode,.
"It's a bit confusing, but here's the deal: Vanna will be hosting this coming week and the next. Then two weeks of shows I taped before my surgery. Then Vanna again the week of Jan. 6 with a special guest at the puzzle board," Sajak tweeted at the start of December. "Then the planets will realign, and it's back to normal."
That "special guest" he referenced was none other than his 25-year-old only daughter, Maggie, who returned to the show 24 years after making her first appearance as a 1-year-old tot. He and wife Lesly Brown Sajak welcomed her, their second child together, in 1995, after having son Patrick in 1990.
"I made my debut on Wheel of Fortune quite a while ago," she told White before playing a clip of her as a youngster back in 1996. "I'm walking a little better now and hopefully I'm a little more eloquent than last time."
"Big thanks to @wheeloffortune for having me and to @officialvannawhitefor making me feel at home," Maggie wrote on social media. "See you all this week at the puzzle board!"
Meanwhile, it sounds like she got a stamp of approval from her famous dad.
"Another nice job by @TheVannaWhite filling in this week on Wheel. I like the new puzzle person, too," he tweeted.
Maggie also offered an update on her dad's health after he assured fans his absence from the show this week was not a result of a relapse, but "because of the technicalities of the taping order and all that."
"He's doing well," she told White. "From the perspective of his daughter, it was a scary experience, I'm not gonna lie, but he's doing great and I know he's so excited to be back next week."