The new co-host of “Wheel of Fortune” Ryan Seacrest stunned longtime co-host Vanna White by revealing the behind-the-scenes secret she’d never known.
During an interview with “Good Morning America,” Seacrest revealed how the show’s signature clicking sound is made when the wheel spins.
White, who has appeared in over 8,100 episodes since joining the show in 1983, had no idea what created the memorable noise.
“Do you know the clicking sound? There are rubber bands – like you used to have with orthodontia on your teeth – that’s what makes the clicking,” Seacrest told “Good Morning America” reporter Trevor Ault on September 5.
White turned to her co-host with shock at the revelation.
“Do you know I never knew that?” White asked.
“Well, welcome to season 43,” Seacrest joked in response.
Ault confirmed he could see the rubber bands on the colorful wheel during the interview.
“I can see it in here,” Ault said after Seacrest pointed them out on the wheel, which consists of 24 pricing wedges.
Seacrest, 50, took over hosting duties from Pat Sajak in 2024 after Sajak announced his retirement in 2023. The new season of the Emmy-winning show premiered Monday. Despite entering her 43rd season on the show, White said she has no plans to follow her co-host into retirement.
“I’m not ready to retire,” White said. “I’m having too much fun. I love coming to work every day. It’s always fun and you never know what’s going to happen.”
White temporarily took over hosting duties in November 2019 when Sajak underwent emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage, her first time hosting the show.
“We only had one rehearsal before we shot my first show, for timing and for my comfort level,” White recalled in a 2019 interview about that experience. White said she made only minor mistakes during her hosting stint that were not related to the game itself.
“For example, the scoreboard is far from where I’m standing, so my eyesight … I couldn’t see the numbers too clearly so I said, ‘Can you make the font bigger so I can see?’ Silly things like that that you don’t see on camera,” White said.
White extended her contract with “Wheel of Fortune” through 2026 and received a substantial pay increase to return to the ABC show, according to TMZ.
The show airs weeknights on ABC at 7:30 p.m. local time and is available for streaming the following day on Peacock and Hulu.