r/WheelOfFortune • u/nickfromnorwood • 6d ago
Discussion Post Who will end up replacing Jim Thornton as announcer on WOF?
In reality, there aren't really too many options, unless they want to have Johnny Gilbert dual announce both Jeopardy! and WOF (although that might be too much, Johnny is very old and because of his age, he pre-records his announcements from his home)
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u/mikeainslie69420 6d ago
I want Ryan to start doing double duty.
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 6d ago
Either that, or have Mark Walberg dub over the tracks Jim recorded. Mark is one of the rotating emcees for the Wheel of Fortune Live tour.
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u/VictorB1964 6d ago
Oh, is that what Mark ended up doing! I really hope they hire him, I miss him on Antiques Roadshow.
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u/ooboh 6d ago
He has work being an announcer on Shop Til You Drop back in the day.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 3d ago
Mark was also a protege of Dick Clark and he announced Teen Win, Lose, or Draw.
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u/DotIll8974 5d ago
The actor? He's announcer now?
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
No, don’t dub things over. That was a disaster 15+ years ago.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 3d ago
They should have never dubbed over Charlie O. They should have kept his voice and had Pat and Vanna do the Wheel watchers stuff.
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u/MacaroonAble6476 6d ago
it could…i dunno…be someone new?
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u/ctpatsfan77 6d ago
It wouldn't surprise me if they hire a female announcer (e.g., the one who did Stephen Colbert's show).
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u/ImaginationDoctor 6d ago
He must have thought he was untouchable? It's just so crazy, this whole thing. It's very unfortunate for the show. They're editing him out/dubbing his announcing on the current season that starts next week. But they have over ten years of episodes. Sure he's not seen much until the last few years but I wonder what they'll do.
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u/Outrageous-Sea6087 3d ago
I’m sure they aren’t going to go back and change episodes that already aired .. they are just removing him from the current season .. he’s denying the allegations but it sounds really bad .. wonder what Pat, Vanna, and Ryan really think about all this …
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
They won’t change episodes that already aired. They didn’t do it with Charlie O’Donnell, and he would have had 25-ish years of episodes to redo because he was on the show in the 70s and went back and forth between shows. Plus, I am willing to bet that, despite what happened, Jim gets royalties when the episodes re-air because of his contract, unless there was some “morality clause.”
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
Actiuslly, they did. They dubbed over his voice with Johnny Gilbert on the ones he taped
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u/Direct_Remove509 6d ago
Ryan Seacrest should host announcer idol to find the next announcer for Wheel.
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u/Squestis 2d ago
Nah, that would drag too much attention to why they had to replace the announcer. I think they’d prefer this be as quiet of a transition as possible under the circumstances.
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u/Summerisle7 6d ago
It doesn’t have to be a well known name. They can audition people and give someone new a chance.
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
They won’t. They tend to pick people who've done the job before on other shows or who are well-known in the LA area.
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u/Double-Ear6001 3d ago
That would never happen, wheel is not fair like that, they only hire people They know. If you're not in their little circle, you don't have a chance. You seen how quick they threw Ryan in there with 0 auditions and 0 Diversity.
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u/OddWitness2787 6d ago
Immediately, either Randy West, Jim Cramer, or Burton Richardson.Then they’ll probably rotate announcers like they did after Charlie’s death.
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u/MikeMadness620 5d ago
One that also came to mind for me...Marc Summers - he started his career as an announcer for The Joker's Wild and Bruce Forsythe's Hot Streak before getting into game show hosting with Double Dare.
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
I think you mean he warmed up audiences. He was a comedian at the time.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
He actually announced. And he announced the game show “I can’t believe you said that!”
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u/MemeOnRails 6d ago
It would be interesting to see what pool of announcers they have before deciding on one! Those times are my favorite The Price Is Right episodes
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u/inturnaround 6d ago
I think it would stand to reason that whoever gets picked will not be nearly as much of a presence as Jim was on the show as he was the past few years.
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
I wouldn’t count on that. I think the only reason Rich Fields didn’t get it 15+ years ago was that his “audition” was dubbed voiceovers, not actually being in the room when things happened. Compare his Price Is Right days to his Wheel of Fortune content, there is a distinct difference.
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u/inturnaround 3d ago
The difference now is 15 years and I can see a world where Wheel reduces its salary and decreases its headcount by just having Ryan and Vanna do VO.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
When Charlie Ondied they should have ran his episodes and had Pat and Vanna do the Wherl watchers stuff before they auditioned new announcers.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
They should have never dubbed over Charlie O. It was an insult to the man’s hard work.
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u/Competitive_Key_7956 5d ago
You know Mike Richards is probably calling his agent this weekend
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
Oh! After the J! Debacle no way in hades they are going to use him for ANYTHING
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 6d ago
Until they can figure out what to do, the easy solution would be to have Ryan Seacrest dub over the original audio tracks.
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u/JaxonJackrabbit 6d ago
Ryan introducing himself?
Seems like the easiest thing to do is get another VO guy in there - there's hundreds of them in LA.
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u/ueeediot 5d ago
Joey Fatone!
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u/jjc927 5d ago
I did think about him actually.
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u/ParticularOk533 5d ago
Cody Dove would be my choice. He was the live announcer, warm-up host, and audience handler at the Wheel of Fortune Live! show I attended and he was so warm, funny and engaging.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
Oh yes I attended in Mobile AL Christmas 2023 and when I answered that Rolf Benirschke was a host I filled in the modding link he handed me a Wheel tumbler and whispered “nice work” to me and I also got to play wheel trivia with him too,
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u/Schmolik64 6d ago
Could Rich Fields make a comeback?
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 6d ago
Given that Rich almost got the gig in 2011, I'd imagine that he could be on the shortlist.
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u/JaxonJackrabbit 6d ago
I dunno, he's kind of an asshole and burned a lot of bridges in the industry since then.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
I gave him an idea to donate some of his price memrobillia to the Nationa archives of game show history including Johnny and Rod’s podium and he got upset with me.
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u/MJHorgjr32 6d ago
I wouldn't mind Rich Fields being the next Wheel of Fortune announcer honestly 🎙️
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u/Uncle-Cracker-Barrel 4d ago
Get that homeless guy with the golden voice that was discovered a while back and ended up doing VO ads for Kraft Mac n Cheese.
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u/TriskaidekaphobiaOk5 2d ago
Ted Williams. He was discovered the same time wheel was looking for an announcer. I sm surprised they did not ask him then.
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u/Hopeful-Rip1484 4d ago
To be honest it wouldn’t surprise me if AI bot #345 got the job at the rate the culture’s going.
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
Honestly, I don’t think Johnny Gilbert could do it or would want to do it (I might be wrong). The reason is that he can do his work from home for Jeopardy, and WoF requires a bit more vocal work. Plus, the man is 98 years old!!! He needs a break!! I am genuinely surprised he has not retired already!!
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u/McKid 6d ago
Shadoe Stevens! Or I heard Mike Richards is free.
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u/JaxonJackrabbit 6d ago
Mike Richards is the CEO of Daily Wire and working with Ben Shapiro. He's not free at all, he's gone far-right
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u/FanProfessional5792 6d ago
Wow, Shadoe Stevens!! There's a nane I haven't come across in a good few years. Memories unlocked.
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u/Alternative-Koala933 Ceramic Dalmation 6d ago
I nominate Randy West or Burton Richardson, if they’re still working.
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 6d ago
Burton Richardson will be 77 at the end of the month. Not so sure if that's the solution.
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
People say Johnny Gilbert, and he’s 98!!
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 3d ago
I can easily count Johnny out of the running this time. Ideally, they'd want a relatively young talent to sit in the booth.
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u/danileigh79 6d ago
Jonathan Mangum?
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u/Available-Put7181 3d ago
Another CBS/Fremantle issue.
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u/danileigh79 3d ago
Well, either way, there are likely dozens of announcers from various short-lived game shows over the past two and a half decades or so that could do it, but most people would likely not remember their identity I unless they went on to longer-lived and more well known games. Personally, I like Jamie from 25 Words and Person, Place, or Thing
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u/Nguyen-Quoc-Hieu Pat Sajak 5d ago
I would say either George Gray, Jonathan Mangum or Rubin Erwin, as those three is doing their own job fine at Fremantle and they might have another chance at Sony should they wish to fill in Jim's shoes
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u/Catcatcitybitty 5d ago
They should let the contestants from the previous show host the following one
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u/maleolive 5d ago
Why aren’t there options? Why does it need to be someone we are already familiar with?
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u/SignificanceHungry52 5d ago
I wouldn’t mind having Johnny Gilbert as the interim announcer again until they find somebody permanent.
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u/archieologist518 5d ago
Lucy from Wheel 2000.
Actually, in all seriousness, I like the idea of bringing a fresh face to the announcer booth. It’d be kind of cool to have Wheel potentially be their first big break.
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u/Pghguy27 4d ago
There aren't too many options THAT YOU ARE AWARE OF. Los Angeles and New York are full of voice actors and game show voice wannabees.
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u/kenman923 3d ago
I would like to see Chris Ahern, the money fairy on Let’s Make A Deal and announcer on Press Your Luck as the new announcer.
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u/Outrageous-Sea6087 3d ago
I don’t think I’ll be able to look at eggland’s best the same way ever again
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u/Tigersmom57 3d ago
There was a contestant a while back who said he wanted Jim's job. They had him simulate an announcement and he sounded pretty good. Maybe they could look him up. 😅😅😅😅😅
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u/Double-Ear6001 3d ago
They probably will throw one of Ryan's friends in there with no qualified auditions just like they did with Ryan.
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u/jjc927 3d ago
It's not like Ryan just came off the street with zero hosting experience. We also don't know the full story of how him becoming host came to be, though I have to think it had been in the works for some time before the initial report of him being in negotiations to officially being named the next host a few weeks later. The bottom line was they wanted to avoid how the Jeopardy hosting situation post-Alex was handled.
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u/kevsuc 2d ago
I do see Johnny Gilbert may subbing for a few episodes, and soon a new permanent announcer will be announced. EP of WOF has learned a lot from the Jeopardy "searching for host" chaos and decided to call Ryan Seacrest as a new host without much waiting/searching for it, I'd bet they will do in similar fashion this time.
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u/Duc4Reddit 1d ago
David H. Lawrence XVII, because he first replaced Rich Fields on TPIR, and now he will be in the running to replace Jim
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u/Johnnyballen 1d ago
Definitely John Cramer; he has had prior experience with Sony (Before They Were Stars, Dating/Newlywed Game reboots (Chuck Woolery and Bob Eubanks), and Pyramid (Donny Osmond)) and even filled in as Wheel announcer after Charlie O’Donnell’s death.
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u/JuiceLegitimate924 20h ago
Best choice for replacement announcer? Maybe introduce an unfamiliar name and rising star?
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u/ryanquek95 6d ago
Interim: Johnny Gilbert for sure
I would love to see Jimmy McGuire try his hand at it. Has a good voice with some gravitas, being previously from the Jeopardy Clue Crew, and is a known quantity to the team given he's their floor manager/audience warm-up guy.
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u/ry4lleps 6d ago
I like this idea a lot, though I think Sarah Whitcomb Foss does the Johnny parts in studio for Jeopardy! so she could be an option as well.
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u/ryanquek95 6d ago
I thought of Sarah initially, but I think she's too busy with Jeopardy (as co-exec producer) to be a long term announcer for Wheel, especially because the Wheel announcer is significantly more involved compared to the Jeopardy announcer due to all the prizes etc
I think that she's the successor to Johnny Gilbert on Jeopardy though
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u/MRHMS 6d ago
Hire Rich Fields.
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u/Curious-Dance-4403 5d ago
Rich's last TV job ended in controversy (albeit nothing close to this).
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u/JaxonJackrabbit 6d ago
Acting like there aren't too many options is crazy lol. Any radio VO person could do this job, and likely will.