Pat Sajak‘s fans caused a social media frenzy on Dec. 28 after the Wheel of Fortune host commemorated his 40th anniversary with the game show.
The uproar occurred because although Sajak and his daughter Maggie Sajak honored his monumental day by sharing heartfelt tweets, the show made little to no mention of the 75-year-old’s hosting anniversary.
Earlier in the day before the show aired, Maggie celebrated her father’s “wheel-iversary” by penning a special message to him along with a throwback photo of Sajak. The tweet read, “Happy 40th Wheel-iversary to this guy! On this day in 1981, @patsajak hosted his very first episode of @WheelofFortune…and the rest is history!”
A short time later, Sajak took to his own Twitter page and recollected the events that occurred the very day Wheel of Fortune first aired 40-years ago. The list included top ten television shows, Ronald Reagan’s presidency, and the number 1 song in the country. Read more down below.
As fans viewed the episode, many expressed how upset they were that Wheel of Fortune failed to celebrate its longtime host. One person tweeted, “Wow! No mention of Pat’s 40th year on #WheelofFortune tonight?”
“WOW! Not one mention of Pat Sajak’s 40th anniversary on last night’s Wheel of Fortune??? This is unacceptable,” another wrote.
A third individual stated, “From what I’ve seen, today marks 40 years since @PatSajak first made his debut on @WheelofFortune … I’m curious if Wheel is going to post anything about it?”
This blunder comes a week after the television show received flack for not giving a woman named Charlene Rubush her winnings of a brand new Audi. In the episode that featured the contestant, Rubush competed in the show’s bonus round solved the word puzzle in the “What Are You Doing” category. Unfortunately, although Rubush guessed the phrase correctly, she missed out on the opportunity to win the luxury car because of the pauses she took to guess the words.
No additional information regarding Sajak’s 40th hosting anniversary and Wheel of Fortune have been released.