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Pat Sajak: 'Celebrity Wheel of Fortune' will have 'different' vibe

"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune," featuring Leslie Jones, Tony Hawk, Chrissy Metz, Chris Harrison and other stars as contestants, will premiere Thursday on ABC. File Photo by Nina Prommer/EPA-EFE
"Celebrity Wheel of Fortune," featuring Leslie Jones, Tony Hawk, Chrissy Metz, Chris Harrison and other stars as contestants, will premiere Thursday on ABC. File Photo by Nina Prommer/EPA-EFE

Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak says Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will have a "different" vibe than the regular show.

Sajak, 74, shared details about the new, star-studded version of the show in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Thursday.

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Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will premiere Thursday at 8 p.m. EST on ABC. The series will feature Leslie Jones, Tony Hawk, Chrissy Metz, Drew Carey, Chris Harrison, Jennie Garth and other stars as contestants.

Sajak said Celebrity Wheel of Fortune will be played the same as the regular game but have a different vibe.

"We've jazzed up the set a bit, made it look a little more prime-timey, whatever that means. And it's going to be a different kind of vibe," Sajak shared.

"We want [the contestants] to play a good, solid game, but we're mainly there to have fun. It'll be a little lighter in attitude," he added.

Sajak said the Celebrity version was a long time coming but that the timing seemed right "because of what's going on in the world."

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"Wheel of Fortune is kind of a sign of normalcy for people; they were very glad to have us back on the air. So this seemed like a good time to expand into primetime a little bit, at least one time, and extend that normalcy," he said.

Thursday's episode will feature Jones, Hawk and Chandra Wilson. ABC shared a teaser for the episode Wednesday that shows Hawk about to solve a puzzle.

Wheel of Fortune resumed production in July after shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show's 38th season premiered in September.

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