Vanna White recently revealed just how many days of the year she spends filming Wheel of Fortune, and the number is astonishing.
White, who was embroiled in reportedly tense negotiations in 2023 over her multi-million dollar salary, opened up about the game show’s filming schedule during a recent interview on Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, where she revealed the show only films for “about 34 days a year.”
“That’s it. But [we film] six shows a day. Come on… You could feel bad for me,” she told hosts Elvis Duran and Danielle Monaro after they audibly gasped at her confession.
“I do not feel sorry for you one bit,” Duran fired back. “That sounds like a great job.”
She then confirmed that it means she gets approximately 331 days off a year from work. “Yeah, I guess so. I’ve never looked at it like that,” she responded.
The news is all the more shocking after reports from last summer noted White, who has been on the show since 1982, was demanding “the same pay — if not more” than what Pat Sajak was making on the show.
At the time, Puck News reported this would be White’s first pay raise in almost 18 years. She was reportedly making $3 million a year at the time. But the ABC star shut down the rumors, claiming the reports were “blown out of proportion.”
As Newsweek notes, White’s current salary has been reported to be in the $10 million range, according to The Daily Mail.
White stayed on the game show amid Sajak’s exit to usher in the new era with host Ryan Seacrest. She extended her contract for two more years in September 2023 and earned a raise for both Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and Wheel of Fortune.
The game show star long maintained that she was not ready to leave the show yet, even amid Sajak’s exit.
“I don’t even want to think about that. I mean, we’re a team,” she told People in 2022. “We’re like Ken and Barbie, you know? We’ve been in everybody’s homes for 40 years, so it would be weird having somebody else turn my letters.”
Wheel of Fortune airs weeknights at 7:30/6:30c on ABC.
