Pat Sajak: Vanna White and I were drunk on "Wheel of Fortune"

Television personality Pat Sajak smiles before the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of Major League Baseball's NLCS playoff series in Los Angeles, October 15, 2008.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak has said in a broadcast interview that he and fellow host Vanna White were drunk when they taped some early episodes of the show, but that he is too old for that now.

The 65-year-old Sajak made the revelation in an appearance earlier this week on cable network ESPN2's show "Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable."

"When I first started and was much younger and could tolerate those things, we had a different show then," Sajak said in the broadcast interview.

Sajak explained that during the production of those "Wheel of Fortune" shows, he and co-host Vanna White would take two and a half-hour breaks while prizes were loaded onto the set in Burbank, California. So, they would go to a nearby restaurant and have "great margaritas," he said.

"Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six (margaritas), and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet," Sajak said on the program.

Sajak further explained that he no longer mixes alcohol and his hosting duties.

"Now, if I were to inhale the cork and a bottle of wine I would probably keel over, I'm getting a little older for this," he said.

Sajak and White have hosted "Wheel of Fortune" since 1983.

(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)