It’s been two months since Ryan Seacrest took over hosting Wheel of Fortune from Pat Sajak, and things haven’t gone as smoothly as they had hoped. Now, fans are accusing Seacrest of trying to turn Wheel of Fortune into Jeopardy!
Is Seacrest Turning Wheel Of Fortune Into Jeopardy!?
A fan took to the Wheel of Fortune Reddit page on Monday to ask one question.
“Thoughts on the new Wheel of Fortune with Ryan Seacrest?” the fan wrote. “For me personally, it’s decent and watchable enough. But I’m not really a big fan of the new designs and graphics in the show.”
One of the top comments was about Seacrest’s contestant interviews. The commenter said that Seacrest’s interviews are more in the style of Jeopardy!, in which host Ken Jennings similarly takes one tidbit and volleys with the contestants off the cuff. This is in contrast to Sajak, who famously used cue cards to interview contestants.
Some viewers actually like the change.
“I personally love the new set and I’m enjoying his banter with the contestants which was previously stale compared to Jeopardy!. Getting Vanna more involved is pretty cool too,” the social media user wrote.
Another commenter said that while Seacrest and Jennings are doing fine jobs hosting, Sajak and the late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek are missed.
“He’s a capable host so he’s doing fine. But of course it isn’t the same. People like Pat, or Alex on Jeopardy, or even Barker on TPIR have that old school charm, wit, and charisma that newer generation hosts don’t have. The old guard have a natural ease about them,” this user wrote. “Someone commented earlier they felt Ryan was fake. I don’t think he’s fake, but he’s media trained to follow things by the book. That’s why it comes off as fake.”
Related: Ryan Seacrest Accused Of Cheating ‘Wheel Of Fortune’ Contestant – ‘Rigged Game Show’
Wheel Of Fortune Feels Like ‘A Whole Different Show’
Others users agreed that Wheel of Fortune feels like an entirely different show with Seacrest hosting.
“Ryan can host paint drying and it would be entertaining,” added a third Reddit user. “That’s just Ryan. But honestly, it feels like a whole different show. It’s hard to explain. It’s the same format just with another host. But it doesn’t feel like Wheel of Fortune.”
One disgruntled fan isn’t happy with all the changes.
“I do not like Seacrest,” this person admitted. “Granted, I’ve watched less than 10 episodes of his version, but he’s constantly forgetting the minor rules and genuinely does not seem to be comfortable hosting a game show. Not helping is that I LOATHE the set re-design. They even brought back the border for the puzzle board and still made me dislike it.”
“The hosting transition was magnitudes better than Jeopardy!” yet another user surmised. This was a reference to the infamous four-year host hunt to replace Trebek, who died in 2020 at the age of 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Jennings Takes Dig At Seacrest
It was recently revealed that Wheel of Fortune surged past Jeopardy! by over 1 million viewers after Seacrest took over back in September. Official figures state that 8,310,000 viewers watched Wheel of Fortune for the premiere week. Meanwhile, just 7,113,000 viewers watched Jeopardy! during the same period.
Last week, Jennings attempted to make light of the budding rivalry. He did this by taking a dig at Seacrest and at Wheel of Fortune.
“After a recent taping, Ken asked the live audience if they enjoyed their time at the show, before asking if any of them wished they’d gone to see Wheel of Fortune instead,” a source told The Sun. “The crowd erupted in laughter and seemed to appreciate him making fun of the rivalry and not taking it so seriously.”
Whether you like Seacrest’s Wheel of Fortune or not, it seems clear that he’s here to stay. Only time will tell if he continues to seemingly turn the show into Jeopardy!
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