‘Wheel of Fortune’ replaces Vanna White amid contract negotiations
nypost.comcontract negotiations. Puck News reported Friday that White, 66, apparently got COVID-19 in late July while “Wheel” was filming its annual “Teachers Week,” which is scheduled to air in October.
That’s when producers apparently called up “Teacher of the Year” recipient Bridgette Donald-Blue to replace White at the letter board for the week’s worth of episodes.
The Post has contacted reps at Sony for comment.White’s absence from the show will be her first in nearly 30 years. It also comes at a time when she’s reportedly in tense contract negations, hoping to score her first raise in allegedly 18 years.She is allegedly making half of what host Pat Sajak makes and, now that Ryan Seacrest has been announced as Sajak’s successor when he retires in 2024, White is rumored to have hired high-powered “aggressive” attorney Bryan Freedman in order for her to return to the show. “Fifty percent of Pat’s salary is so outrageous that no one in their right mind could say that it’s fair,” an unidentified insider alleged to People last month.“The negotiation is asking for much more than 50% of his salary.
It’s asking for the same pay — if not more,” they continued.In a recently resurfaced interview with Esquire, White once claimed that she “worked harder” than Sajak.“My position is much more, what’s the word?
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