For White, Sajak and the rest of the Wheel team are her family; just one of the perks that makes White “love everything about [her] job.” And the perks are plentiful. Take the show’s taping schedule. An entire season is filmed in just 35 shoots per year, dolled out in increments of four days a month. (Which in earlier years allowed her the freedom to almost always take her now-adult children to school, and be there when they got home.) Call-time begins at 8 a.m., with six shows shooting back-to-back until production wraps around 6 p.m. White has the schedule down to a science. She manages outfit changes in under 3 minutes—thanks to her pre-paired dresses, accessories, and shoes—and gets in reps with 10-pound weights between takes.
In her role she’s worn over 7,000 gowns (never having repeated a look, and constantly varying their style), has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most frequent clapper in history (averaging 600 claps per episode), and has even earned herself a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She’s traveled far and wide to film Wheel’s special episodes, like a recent visit to the Downton Abbey castle. “We’ve been to Ireland, Switzerland, England, Scotland, and everywhere in the United States,” says White. “In Alaska they put me on a glacier and shot me from above in a helicopter. And here I am, standing as far as I can see, just white, white, white, on this glacier. It was awesome.”
White’s enthusiasm for her job is matched only by her audience’s zeal for her. In the ‘80s, the fanfare around America’s favorite letter-turner hit such a fever pitch that it was dubbed “Vannamania.” White remembers, “Standing in line at the grocery store [in the ‘80s] and seeing myself on the cover of Newsweek. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, gosh, I guess I’ve made it.’” White was the girl-next-door, done good. And in pop culture her name became ubiquitous with over-the-top success. Weird Al Yankovic went on to release, “Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White.” Later, Nelly rapped about “paying cash, first class, sittin’ next to Vanna White” in his early aughts hit, “Ride Wit Me.” And over the years White has been invited to play herself in episodes of popular TV shows from The King of Queens to Fresh Off the Boat.
Of course, there have been critics—both of White, and women in her line of work. Feminists have challenged the mere existence of game show roles like “briefcase girl” (which helped catapult both Chrissy Teigen and Meghan Markle to fame on Deal or No Deal) or the ever-pervasive silent and smiling female co-host who exist purely to look good in a sequined dress next to their male counterparts. Though White has made a name for herself on the show in her own right and says she feels, “equal” to Sajak, her detractors are voluble, calling her names like “bimbo,” “dumb blonde,” and “real-life barbie doll” and often weaponizing the same sexist tropes they claim to want to overturn. One article even posed the question, “How much Vanna can we Stanna?”
