Vanna White Is Reportedly 'Worried' Her 'Wheel Of Fortune' Days Are Numbered

Maggie reportedly earns significantly less than Vanna's $10 million per year, and the show's producers view her as a way to cut costs. "It's no wonder Vanna is worried," the source noted.

Sources also reveal that her latest significant salary increase, which was negotiated after Pat's replacement, Ryan Seacrest, reportedly more than tripled her previous earnings.

Vanna's contract is set to expire in the summer of 2026, and the powers that be are not willing to sit down at the discussion table for any more increases.

Another insider explained to RadarOnline that the TV host was able to have things go her way the last time because the producers and the network were in a different position. However, now things may not work in her favor, and she is reportedly concerned because "what other gig pays $10 million for only 34 days of work?"

Yes, Vanna gets paid a sumptuous $10 million a year for appearing on set for a total of 34 days. Back in March, E! Online shared the version of events from Vanna's POV when she appeared on the Morning Show.

In her words, "We film about 34 days a year. That's it. But we film six shows a day. Come on, you could feel bad for me." Vanna did not get any sympathy for apparently having such a great time at her job, but the host shared that she does not see her days off as any form of vacation.

She also explained how the show producers made her job easier by switching from a manually controlled system to a high-tech environment that allows her to do fewer physical tasks while on set.

Vanna noted that the production team installed a laser system that works in conjunction with her hand motion to "light up" the letters and perform other functions.

Co-hosting the "Wheel of Fortune" for decades has earned the TV personality "a half-hour of family, and escape from much." She emphasized that the show leaves a positive trail in her path, and she enjoys "being part of that."

What a crazy way to become enormously wealthy

She was just a C list model with a few bit parts in movies when she went on the Wheel of Fortune audition. Life is strange, when a long term, lucrative career doing essentially nothing can land on someone out of the blue like that.

Is she really in a "state of panic" or is she just naturally worried because that dumb nepo baby has rather obviously been in the process of being prepared to take over the past few years? I was surprised they didn't try the switch when Pat left.

She should have plenty of money to retire. She's almost 70. Just give it up already.

Vanna is a stunning, natural beauty who quickly grew into her role well and very wisely stuck with the same job for long enough to become a household name. She's being rewarded now and rightfully so. Someone will have to take over pretty soon, sure, but it'd be nice if it was someone equally special and not nepo baby Maggie Sajak who is not very impressive on camera despite several years now of being groomed for it.

Right, r5. If she only works 34 days a year then she must have a life outside of her job. It's not like she's Kelly Rippa or Howard Stern and needs to keep working or she'll kill herself out of boredom.

In my book anyone with 10 million in the bank does not have to worry about anything that costs money for the rest of their lives. Crock Tears.

F_CK TH_T N_P_ B_BY

[quote]she is reportedly concerned because "what other gig pays $10 million for only 34 days of work?"

What? Is she worried that she financed a new car and a 3-piece living room suite "on time" and got caught short with this news with a few years of payments left? Worried about the expensive prescription dog food for her elderly, blind Chihuahua?

When you see real problems of real people like this, it really epitomizes the free fall of the US.

This woman has made millions off Southern California real estate. At this stage of her 68 years, Wheel must be like a hobby.

This is akin to a Daily Mail article where they invent what a celebrity MUST be thinking/worried about. Then they use "evidence" to back it up.

I can't imagine Vanna ever told anyone who speaks to The Blast about her career concerns. lol

I'm sure she hasn't been earning $10 million/year for 30 years. She probably started out at $100,000/year and probably only passed $1 million/year 5 or 6 years ago, as she had name recognition and good agents and lawyers. My point is not that she is being paid appropriately now - (way overpaid in my opinion). Just that, while I'm sure she's accumulated plenty of wealth, especially if she was given good investment advice, we shouldn't be assuming that she has $100,000,000 in the bank on any given day.

It's interesting to look at salary trajectories. This one is for the cast of Friends, which had notable high salaries, especially towards the end of the series:

The cast of Friends earned varying amounts per episode throughout the show's run:

Season 1: Each cast member made $22,500 per episode.

Season 2: Salaries ranged from $20,000 to $40,000 per episode.

Season 3: All cast members were paid $75,000 per episode.

Season 4: Salaries increased to $85,000 per episode.

Season 5: Each cast member earned $100,000 per episode.

Season 6: The salary rose to $125,000 per episode.

Final Seasons (7-8): Each cast member made $750,000 per episode, totaling $1.875 million for each season.

Final Two Seasons: Each cast member earned $1 million per episode, totaling $2.125 million for each season .

Before she is "retired", would she pleased stop with the sleeveless gowns? This is not a look for an elderly woman.

She's an old pro from way back. Surely she has some money from those days on her back socked away...

Vanna should be worried about whether her son's tight T-shirt is going to be able to contain his pecs much longer.

[quote]R13 Final Seasons (7-8): Each cast member made $750,000 per episode, totaling $1.875 million for each season. / Final Two Seasons: Each cast member earned $1 million per episode, totaling $2.125 million for each season.

So, by that math there was a little over 2 episodes per season?

Yeah, that math ain't mathin'....They were making $20m+ that final season.

Unless she made shitty investments, Vanna should be VERY well off. She's been doing that fucking awful show for over 40 years. And, she's done endorsement deals and commercials and acted and wrote at least one book.

If she's not worth a minimum of at least $50m then she must have got rooked along the way.

TBH, if she invested well, she might be worth $100m.

Not sure what she has to be worried about. Other than being bored by retirement.

She's 68! Just retire already.

Is her son still a homosexualist?

She’s not that pretty, really.

The son is Gorgeous

[quote] I was surprised they didn't try the switch when Pat left.

I think the producers wanted some kind of continuity for the viewers, by keeping Vanna.

They weren't sure how the WOF audience would react to Ryan Semencrest, so Vanna was like insurance for them.

Now that Ryan seems to be holding on to the audience, I think they feel they can dump Vanna for someone younger and cheaper.

She'll probably get dumped in 2026, when her current contract ends.

What a great fucking gig. 34 days of work a year?! She is one of the luckiest people of all time in showbiz

Can't she continue to live off the royalties of "Vanna Speaks"?

It’s time to retire, Toots

Put her on an ice flow painted like the Wheel and push her off shore.

Please hand me my World's Tiniest Violin, Jeeves.

FFS, stop whining and QUIT already. I'm sure she has plenty of money to "keep her in the style that she's accustomed to." At 70, she's got maybe 15 - 20 years of life left to live, and I'll wager she's got enough to last that long.

This is seriously a case of (Hollywood) First World problems.

I doubt she's "worried."

More like facing the reality that her incredible run on WOF is coming to an inevitable end. She's 68 years old. There isn't a spokesmodel who's had the longevity that she's had. She's been employed in that role for over four decades, and she knows she's probably the luckiest woman on earth to have had the career she's had and the financial good fortune that goes along with it.

Vanna has millions and millions of dollars. She can retire and enjoy her life without a single financial care. The only thing she's probably "worried" about is how she'll fill her time once she doesn't have to wake up and go to work every day.

The first thing she'll probably do when she leaves the show is eat hamburgers and fries and drink milkshakes for a month.

Poor thing's had to starve herself for 43 years so she can fit into those pretty dresses and gowns she wears on TV.

I never got her appeal.

Vanna's days on Wheel are nit numbered.

Unfortunately, they are lettered.

She should be replaced with a biracial trans woman who is also blind, deaf and paraplegic.

What the Wheel bought her.

Is she even needed anymore? The updated game board can reveal letters without her or anyone else touching it. That kind of makes her role irrelevant to the unfolding of the game.

R36 Was she ever really needed?

I mean, even back in the 1980s, they could've automatically revealed the letters on the board.

I've always said Vanna White has the best job in the world.

All she has to do is wear pretty dresses and touch tiles that light up and make millions of dollars for doing it.

Everyone's days are numbered. It's just that the days she has left are far lower than when she started out. Do people still watch WOF?

Even at her age, there’s an elegance about Vanna.

Sajak’s kid looks like any random sorority girl from the South.

I'm sorry but I went to a taping of WOF and Vanna doesn't do a fucking thing. She didn't even acknowledge the audience once (unlike Pat who was actually a very nice, funny, charismatic guy--and not just when the cameras were on). The instant the cameras stop rolling, Vanna runs behind the letter board and doesn't come back out until the cameras start up again. $10,000,000/year makes her the luckiest, most overpaid person in America and that's not hyperbole. She lived in fucking Beverly Park so she's not hurting.

I will say one nice thing about her: Despite all of her money, she pulled out of the parking garage after the show in a Prius. I thought that was pretty cool. And it was a white one!

Merv Griffin was once asked about what appeal Vanna had. He said that she had a large head!

She's probably dissatisfied, not because of the money, but because it affirms she is getting old. She is expendable. They're moving on to someone younger. Typical Hollywood story...

Bad enough they hired Ryan. They wanna put Sajak’s DAUGHTER in?!?!? Jesus Christ, because no one else can touch lighted letters???

R41, Pat Sajak is a Trumper.

Vanna had a run of popularity in the late 1980’s. She did a made for TV movie that was heavily promoted and wrote a book about her life. She was pretty big. She would have already been making very good money for a letter turner. IIRC, I think at one point she pushed publicly a little bit to get her salary more aligned with Pat’s and had some success.

She deserves a lot of credit for one thing - she took advantage of her popularity in the 1980’s but when it because apparent she couldn’t act and wasn’t going to become a superstar, she got back in her lane in continued to cash her checks for 40 more years. Smart move. So at least she recognized her luck.

$10,000,000/Year

34 Days/Year = $294,117.65 / Day

Serves no real purpose to the show.

Sounds like a good deal to me! I wouldn't want to give it up either.

Her son was briefly homosexual, and involved with a BLACK HARE KRISHNA TWICE HIS AGE.

It was tacky and scandalous, and probably cost the family a few million, but it's over now.

Vanna was definitely better with letters than numbers.

r42 Merv Griffin was known to choose "talent" by their large heads. For some reason, he felt people with "big heads" were popular, and people were drawn to them.

That was a compliment from Griffin to her, even though you wouldn't think so without knowing his philosophy.

[quote] Pat Sajak once said that he and Vanna White were picked by Merv Griffin to star in "Wheel of Fortune" in part because they both have large heads. Griffin's theory, apparently, is that big-headed people are always popular. (Think about it: You are instinctively drawn to big-headed people. They have presence. At some primal Darwinian level you want a bigger head.)

I thought she intended to do Seacrest's first two seasons, then retire?

[quote] She should have plenty of money to retire. She's almost 70. Just give it up already.

I was thinking the same. She has money. It is time for the next chapter in her life. Boomers hanging on to their jobs at 70 is not good in any industry.

R41 Like I said in R38, Vanna has the best job in the world.

R46 I had a straight roommate in the 1980s who was OBSESSED with Vanna White. He made me sit with him and watch her horrific NBC made-for-TV movie, "Goddess of Love." He couldn't take his eyes off the screen, despite the fact that she couldn't act and it had a plot and special effects below the quality of Land of the Lost.

He even bought her exercise tape just to watch her bounce around in a leotard, and he recorded a snippet from it where she says, "Hello" to use on our answering machine. My mom called me once and got the answering machine, then asked me who the woman was at our place. I had to explain it was Vanna White.

I don't like Sajak's daughter on the show - at all. Talk about nepotism. That's total bullshit - she's not even very good.

HATED Republican Pat Sajak - glad he left.

Vanna needs to stay as long as she wants. Sajak was 77 when he retired.

I had a friend who was a bank teller in LA in the late 1970s and early 80s, and Vanna was one the bank's customers long before she was famous. My friend said Vanna was always very friendly and nice to the staff, but rarely had more than $500 in her checking account.

Then when she got Wheel and started getting famous, she would bring her dad to the bank with her because she was now bringing in six-figure checks and needed him to help figure out how to invest and manage her money.

R55 Maggie Sajak is Eve Harrington to Vanna's Margo Channing.

Is DL Birdie or Addison DeWitt?

R58 Birdie, of course.

[quote] I'm sure she has plenty of money to "keep her in the style that she's accustomed to."

Apparently, she HAD plenty of money, but she blew it all on buying vowels.

Typical boomer, blocking younger generations from the opportunity she was handed many decades ago, inhabiting a coveted role well beyond her expected retirement age, for a (very hefty) paycheck she doesn't need, while counting piles of cash no one under 50 can imagine ever coming close to accruing in their lifetime.

And just for turning letters for 20ish minutes 5 nights a week, in an evening gown.

R61 Oh, puhleez.

If you had the best job in the world, like Vanna does, you'd hold onto that for as long as you could.

OK BOOMER!

R61 She also gets to fly all around the world for free and stay at luxury resorts in exotic locales in exchange for shooting 30-second Wheel promo spots.

Who in their right mind would wanna give that up?

R63 Don't worry, honey. Sajak's cunty little daughter will be icing out boomer Vanna any day now.

I think at age 68 that Vanna needs to start worrying that ALL her days are numbered.

[quote] And just for turning letters for 20ish minutes 5 nights a week, in an evening gown.

She hasn't turned any letters since the Clinton presidency. They decided long ago that was too physically demanding. She just taps the board and the letters appear. She's a letter tapper in an evening gown.

R61 acts like Vanna is the head of some biotech company, standing on the top rung and blocking the path for intelligent, ambitious prodigies with advanced degrees to climb the corporate ladder instead of just some spokesmodel turning letters on a game show.

Does she at least have to learn the puzzle, or does it appear off camera like the weather maps meteorologists use?

R61 - I don't care - she doesn't have to give it up for some nepo baby Sajak sperm who has never wanted for anything and never worked a day in her life.

Maggie fucking Sajak is the fucking Meghan McCain of WoF. I don't care if she has some good degrees - you don't get to inherit a game show bitch.

Vanna's knees have gotta be hurting these days. I mean, 43 years of walking back and forth across across the stage in high heels to touch those tiles have to have taken their toll.

The letter light up, hon. She's not "learning the puzzle."

[quote]Vanna White

F_CK TH_S B_TCH

R72 I remember years ago when she was on Joan Rivers' talk show and Joan jokingly asked her if she ever accidentally turned over the wrong letter, and Vanna very proudly said, "Never! I never turn a tile before it lights up."

This, of course, was back in the day when she had to actually turn the tile and it didn't just light up.

Bitch has been selling vowels in the off-season for years now

R74 I'm just imagining Wheel producers in the 1990s having a meeting and saying, "How can we make Vanna's job easier? I know! Let's just have her touch the tiles instead of turning them! She'll never be able to sue us for getting carpal tunnel!"

R73 Geez, Maggie, you really want her job, don't you?

Maggie Sajak and Tiffany Trump are both Georgetown Law graduates.

R78 LOL! I wonder how they got their degrees.

R71 - Vanna's maybe 120lbs soaking wet. They film 34 days a year - I'm sure there's plenty of downtime for rest and time between shows to rest her feet.

She's fine.

Now the bigger question is why they need a permanent person and not someone they can rotate in every week or month or season.

Vanna's the only visible tie to the show's past. Ryan is...ok but he's not great and he won't be there for long, looking at his track record. Vanna should have been given Pat's job.

Why can't we have a hot guy in a speedo?

R81 Being as the audience is mostly fraus and gays, that would be a great idea.

R81 - I was thinking hot men and drag queens or people in bizarre costumes would be fun. Probably too distracting?

They could make it more fun.

R81 and R82

Which one of you is Ryan Seacrest?

I’m really over Boomers in their 70’s refusing to retire at my job. None of them are good at what they do anymore (if they ever were), and they are awful to be around. I don’t get the mindset—especially with wealthy boomers like Howard Stern and multiple politicians.

Panic? She’s 68 and not 1 person in 10,000 experiences her kind of fame and/or cushy wealthy life without having to work that hard.

Vanna should be all gratitude.

R85 Start a thread about your outrage in that case.

This seems like a golden OnlyFans opportunity

A: $10/month E: $25/month I: $100/month (comes with bonus Y) I, O & U: DM for current offerings

[quote] Her son was briefly homosexual, and involved with a BLACK HARE KRISHNA TWICE HIS AGE.

[quote] It was tacky and scandalous, and probably cost the family a few million, but it's over now.

I thought you were joking about this, but it's true!

That Queerty article says that he has a girlfriend now, but I seriously thought he was out and gay.

How do you go from getting banged by BBC, to having a girlfriend?

Did Vanna really have to pay that guy off, to leave her son alone?

Also, did Vanna threaten to disinherit Nikko, if he was gay?

She's a pageant girl from South Carolina, so I guarantee she comes from a conservative christian family.

[quote] She should have plenty of money to retire. She's almost 70. Just give it up already.

This video from Entertainment Tonight shows her close up.

Vanna definitely looks her age, and it must take a lot of makeup, smoke and mirrors to make her look good on camera.

I'd say it's definitely time to hang it up.

[quote] Why can't we have a hot guy in a speedo?

Come to think of it, Nikko should take Vanna's place, since he's her son.

Plus, he looks good in a speedo.

And Sajak's daughter should have been the host.

Why not a female host, and a male letter turner? It's 2025, FFS!

I really like how she looks there, R90. So much better than her pulled, frozen and filled peers in showbiz.

[quote]It is time for the next chapter in her life. Boomers hanging on to their jobs at 70 is not good in any industry.

At 71, I just retired. It is definitely time for the next chapter in my life.

Unfortunately, that chapter seems to be a race between death and the money I have saved.

R90 What are you talking about? She looks great!

We should all look so good at that age.

Remember Vanna's hot fiancé John Gibson who died in a plane crash in 1986?

Poor Vanna lost some good dick.

R89 I actually read that Vanna is extremely gay friendly and that she often had to struggle to keep her mouth zipped when Pat would go on his MAGA rants.

Susan Stafford was there before Vanna.

Looking at r95's attached pic, I'd say Vanna definitely has a type. I'm linking a picture of her with her ex-husband, George Santo Pietro. Maybe someone on here can explain what's going on with his SHOES! (Oh my)

But his physical type is very similar to John Gibson in r95

R98 She knew how to pick 'em (even though George seemed to lack fashion sense).

[quote]Do people still watch WOF?

WOF is still a big thing with older people.

R97 And I was there before Pat, you ungrateful fucking liberals.

I had no idea that Nikko works for Mauricio Umansky at "The Agency."

Are they fucking?

How weird that Vanna's son would be working for Kyle Richards' husband.

I'm almost 50 years old and Vanna White has been doing Wheel Of Fortune since I was in 1st Grade. That's kind of mind-blowing.

R103 I know. I was still in college when she started on the show, and now I'm retired.

Her son is a hairy boy

[quote]Maggie reportedly earns significantly less than Vanna's $10 million per year

WOW! Stop the presses ! The employee who joined four years ago is getting paid significantly less than the employee who's been there for 43 years. Talk about unfair labor practices ! They should be getting the same salary, no ?

R105 He has a big head like his mom.

Merv would've loved him.

Her son is a piece of ass.

[quote] WOF is still a big thing with older people.

Babies too, apparently. I've heard a few young moms say the sound of the wheel puts their little ones to sleep.

Nikko's head is even more gigantic than Vanna's.

[quote]R31 The first thing she'll probably do when she leaves the show is eat hamburgers and fries…. Poor thing's had to starve herself for 43 years

Candice Bergen got fat when she got older, saying she didn’t want to spend the time she had left living on lettuce and sole.

Pat Sajak stayed on until 77, but Vanna at 68 is too old? If I were her I would ride the gravy train another 3-5 years and then retire.

Can’t believe some posters are believing this article and comparing Vanna to a boomer who won’t retire. Such bullshit.

I’m sure there is a plan in place, and has probably been in place since Sajak announced his retirement date.

Vanna has always modeled clothing well—I don’t see the nepo baby carrying on the tradition. Sajak’s kid is yawn-inducing.

The daughter is a bit chicken-faced.

Notice how saying “she looks her age” now has become an insult? It shouldn’t be—for either gender.

She looks great for her age. "She looks her age" is backhanded bitchery and you know it. That's why you said it, after all.

R115, you look your age.

[quote]r96 I actually read that Vanna is extremely gay friendly

In either the book YOU'LL NEVER MAKE LOVE IN THIS TOWN AGAIN or its sequel, one of the call girls discusses going home with Vanna White for a night of lesbian passion! She raves about how beautiful Vanna was, how sensual and satisfying her lovemaking, etc. etc.

I'd think it would have to be true... they wouldn't publish that without some evidence to back it up if they were sued (?)

Vanna wasn't a client - just someone the girl met at a Hollywood party or something (?) But the only other sex partner who gets raves is Matt Lattanzi, who's described as some kind of dream lover. Except then he hurriedly throws the call girl out in the morning as he's rushing to wash the bedsheets, expecting Olivia Newton-John to return from a trip.

Glenn Frye also gets raves in that book. He was hot in the 80’s

Liza Greer was a Penthouse "Pet"

[quote] In either the book YOU'LL NEVER MAKE LOVE IN THIS TOWN AGAIN or its sequel, one of the call girls discusses going home with Vanna White for a night of lesbian passion!

Like mother, like son!

[quote] Vanna White's teenage son is 'exploring a gay relationship' with Hare Krishna monk twice his age

Vanna White feared she was fighting to save her teenage son from being brainwashed by a Hare Krishna monk who was after her money, but now it transpires that the pair are exploring a gay relationship together.

The Wheel of Fortune star's son Nicholas, who likes to be called Nikko, has been living with Krishna devotee Jaycee Akinsanya, 34, while both attend the University of Arizona.

Now 19-year-old Nikko has revealed that he's in a serious relationship with the monk from Liberia who is twice his age.

‘Jaycee and I have a special relationship,’ Nikko told the National Enquirer. ‘It’s the closest I’ve ever been with anyone. It’s just spiritual and wonderful and there is chemistry - and if there’s sex also, so be it. It doesn’t matter!’

He also revealed that Jaycee has already met with both his mom Vanna and his father, the restaurant mogul George Santo Pietro.

Both Nikko and Jaycee described the meeting as a success, although they slept in separate rooms while staying with them in Los Angeles.

Jaycee, who shares a small house with Nikko in Tucson, described his boyfriend's parents as 'wonderful people.' He told the National Enquirer that if they asked him to stop seeing their son, he would 'listen to their request and leave it to Nikko to decide.’

Nikko is optimistic his parents will be cool with the unusual setup.

‘My mom and dad like Jaycee,’ he said. ‘They don’t think he is a demon.'

Nikko described his relationship with Jaycee as 'close' but not 'sexual in the full sense.' He said he remains 'undecided' about his sexual orientation.

'I have had one girlfriend and never had a real boyfriend. We are just happy to be together, loving each other in whatever way possible,’ he said. ‘Gay? It’s possible.’

According to the National Enquirer, Ms White, who is worth an estimated $40million, has refused to give her son $1million he has demanded to build a new ashram for Hare Krishna followers.

The TV star is said to be terrified about losing her son to the organization. The Hare Krishna movement previously has been accused of brainwashing in a lawsuit for false imprisonment, among other claims.

Sophomore student Nikko reportedly met Mr Akinsanya, who is a freshman at the same university, last year.

After Wheel Of Fortune star Vanna and her ex-husband and Nikko's father George Santo Pietro, refused to give the money, the Enquirer claims that the monk has been trying to cut his teenage housemate off from his family, advising that Nikko 'follow his own path'.

Mr Pietro is a former restaurateur who is believed to be worth in excess of $20million. The couple married in December 1990 and divorced in November 2002.

A showbiz friend of Ms White told the Enquirer: 'This man is clearly targeting Nikko for his family's money.'

Akinsanya, who is originally from the war-torn West African nation of Liberia, often appears on the college campus in his tradition yellow Hare Krishna robe to encourage students to visit his meditation center.

He was allegedly evicted in King County, Washington after failing to pay rent and legal fees of around $1,500.

Nikko told the Enquirer that he did not ask his parents for $1million to build an ashram. He added: 'The money I asked for was for my living expenses - food, gas and for living my spiritual life with Jaycee.'

Nikko's Facebook page is filled with pictures of the pair visiting a Hare Krishna temple and taking a road trip to Canada.

It is also claimed by the Enquirer that Jaycee is taking a break from his monk duties and converted his ashram - traditionally a group spiritual hermitage - into a private home for himself and Nikko.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote] Merv would've loved him.

The time one of my dates took me to Merv's house in Trousdale to conduct some pawn business, none of the four "houseboys" I saw looked anything like Nikko.

First, at age 31, Nikko's too old now. And secondly, he's not nearly 'rough trade' enough looking. I don't recall any of them looking like they had that much hair on their chest either. Two were totally shirtless, the other two had tank tops on.

[quote]r122 ‘My mom and dad like Jaycee,’ he said. ‘They don’t think he is a demon.'

Well, isn't THAT a ringing endorsement ? !