Sajak: We drank before 'Wheel' tapings

Longtime "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak said in a television interview that when he first did the long-running TV game show, he and letter-turner Vanna White would be tipsy on some occasions.

"Yes," he answered on the ESPN2 show "Dan LeBatard Is Highly Questionable" this week when asked, "Have you ever done 'Wheel of Fortune' a little bit drunk?"

"Our dinner breaks would be 2 1/2 hours long while they drove in new cars and boats and gazebos and stuff" to be given away as prizes, he explained to sportswriter and Miami radio host LeBatard. "At NBC in Burbank we had a [Mexican restaurant] called Los Arcos across the street . . . and they served great margaritas. So Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet," he said jokingly. "They're really good tapes to get a hold of." He added, "I think the average number [of drinks] was cuatro," using the Spanish word for four.

Sajak, 65, who has hosted daytime and nighttime versions of the syndicated show since 1981, went on to say, "I had a great time. I have no idea if the shows were any good, but no one said anything, so I guess I did OK. Now if I were to inhale the cork in a bottle of wine I would probably keel over . . . so we don't do that. I would be hesitant to have anything to drink now. Although," he joked, "I'm hammered at this moment."