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Wheel of Fortune is the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. If you’re a frequent watcher, you may feel you know hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White quite well. In this article, we’ll list eight fast facts about White’s job as a letter turner that might surprise you. See the kiss that shocked game show fans (page 6) and which celebrity helped White land her famous game show job (page 8).

1. Vanna wasn’t the first letter turner

Wheel of Fortune's first letter turner, Dr. Susan Stafford
Susan Stafford | Nancy Ostertag/Getty Images

You may feel the show couldn’t ever exist without White, but she actually wasn’t the first letter-turner. Up until 1982, a woman named Susan Stafford held the job. She left the role when she realized it wasn’t what she wanted out of life.

“I mean, for seven years I stood there and turned letters,” Stafford told the Chicago Tribune in 1987. “I had to ask myself if that was any way for a grown woman to live her life.” She trained Vanna, her successor, and gave her thoughts on her. “She was so happy to be there. It reminded me of how I was at the beginning.”

Next: See what causes Vanna’s job stress.

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