Vanna White 'Wheel of Fortune' Contract Negotiations Reportedly Set to Get 'Ugly'
The game shop hostess is fighting for a higher salary, but negotiations have stalled.
Vanna White remains in contract negotiations to stay at Wheel of Fortune, but things are reportedly set to get "ugly." TMZ reports that White's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, was able to close a deal with the show's producing studio, Sony Pictures Television. Under the terms of that deal, White will remain as co-host on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. The additional salary that Freedman got for White from Celebrity Wheel of Fortune is said to be a "meaningful bump," and now he's hoping to do that again with the regular version of Wheel.
However, negotiations on the main syndicated series have stalled, due to the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike. One of the main issues has been the disparity between White's salary and Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak's pay. Freedman has been trying to lessen the gap, but TMZ reports that Sony TV execs feel they overpaid Sajak. For this reason, they don't want to use his annual income as a gauge for determining White's salary. "It's gonna get ugly if they [Sony] don't get more serious," a source told the outlet.
Previously, Yahoo! reported that White's annual salary is one-fifth of Sajak's, as she makes $3 million a year to his $15 million annual salary. The outlet stated that she is threatening to quit unless Sony TV agrees to more than double her pay to $7.5 million. It's also been reported that White has not had a pay raise in nearly two decades.
The situation with White has been an interesting one to follow. After Sajak announced his planned retirement, rumors began swirling that White was planning to stay with the show, but that she'd hired Freedman to negotiate a new pay raise. A promising update came when it was announced that Ryan Seacrest would be the new host, making over after Sajak's final season, which will begin later this year. Seacrest wrote a statement about the news, and at the end, he stated, "I can't wait to continue the tradition of spinning the wheel and working alongside the great Vanna White."
However, Puck's Matthew Belloni soon came forward to report that White and Sony TV still had not come to an agreement on her salary. Per TV Line, there had been rumblings at Sony TV that executives might be considering "eliminating" White's co-host role when Sajak leaves. While Sony TV did not offer any official comment on the reports, TV Line spoke with an unnamed source who alleges that the rumors are inaccurate and that there "is no plan to eliminate Vanna's role." The insider stated, "Sony is in active discussions to renew Vanna's deal beyond her current contract."