The Name of The Game? It’s Always ‘Vanna’ on CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Vanna White seemed genuinely taken aback by the notion that she is a valued member of the exclusive “fame by one name” club. The idea was presented to White during an interview to promote CTV’s CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE, which airs another new episode this Sunday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app (with contestants Curtis Stone, Haley Joel Osment, and Tatyana Ali). The season finale airs Feb. 20 (with Von Miller, Ali Wentworth, and Laverne Cox). But the name “Vanna” stands out – so much so, that if someone were to say that they “interviewed Vanna today,” nobody would follow that up with, “Vanna who?” Everyone knows Vanna! “Ooooh … wow … now that you mention it, yeah, that’s pretty cool,” White said in a phone interview. “You know, it’s funny, growing up with that unusual name, my whole childhood was like, ‘what’s your name?’ Vanna. ‘Oh, Vonna?’ No, Vanna. ‘Vanya?’ No, VANNA! And now, everybody knows it. Awww, yes, I love that!” Given that part of the appeal of the original format of the show is seeing regular people solving word puzzles, winning money, and getting excited, White was asked if she thought CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE – which debuted early last year – was going to be a hit right from the beginning, or did she have to be talked into it? “I thought it was a great idea for two reasons – the first reason was that they were playing for charity, so I thought, that’s a great cause,” White said. “And secondly, I feel like our viewers really enjoy seeing their favourite celebrities up there. They get a kick out of that. So I think it’s good for everyone all around.” Has any celebrity in particular impressed White with their puzzle-solving prowess? “Gosh, you know, I can’t specify one person, because we do so many shows at a time, and I’m always thinking about all three of them (on any given episode),” White said. “But another big thing about our show is that you have the luck of the wheel. If you’re spinning, and you’re choosing the right letters, you’re eventually going to solve the puzzles. But you might be an incredible player who just happens to be landing on ‘bankrupt’ every other time. So you can’t really get a true sense of who’s really, really good. But I have been quite impressed with the celebrities and how well they’ve done. I mean, they’re used to being on TV, but they’re not used to playing a game on TV. It’s very different. But they all seemed very bright to me.” Asked if there’s a famous person from the past that she would have loved to see trying their luck on CELEBRITY WHEEL OF FORTUNE, White didn’t hesitate: “I know this is funny, but Albert Einstein,” she said. “Can you imagine?” Even Albert Einstein would be vulnerable to the luck of the wheel, or lack thereof. And the wheel itself has not gone high-tech. While White no longer “turns” the letters physically, but merely touches them and they light up, the wheel is still downright rickety. “And you can hear that ‘click-click-click-click’ when it spins, right?” White said. “It’s just part of it. This game has always been contagious. All these years, even if you’re not watching the show and you happen to be walking past a TV, if there’s a puzzle on there, you’re going to stop and try to solve it before you continue on. You can’t help yourself, you just have to solve it.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv