Stephen A. Smith would like to buy a vowel.
The 55-year-old sports media personality is the latest celebrity interested in giving the “Wheel of Fortune” hosting gig a spin as longtime emcee Pat Sajak, 76, announcedthe upcoming season would be his last.
“My mother loved ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ Loved ‘Wheel of Fortune,’” Smith said Thursday on his podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” “She really, really did, and so did I.
“I wanna throw my name in the hat,” an excited Smith said.
Smith appeared to be seriously considering the gig but admitted that he would go into it with a few stipulations.
“I ain’t trying to give up my day job,” he said of ESPN’s sports analysis show “First Take.”
“I ain’t trying to give up my podcast. But I gotta tell you, if ‘Wheel of Fortune’ called to ask me to host for a couple of days, I wouldn’t mind,” he added. “I wouldn’t mind hosting that show while folks try to figure out what those letters mean, and what it equates into.”
A source close to Stephen A. Smith confirmed to The Post that he is indeed open to hosting the show.
The insider also said that while no conversations have taken place just yet — and he would “never give up his day job” — Smith would “gladly” host if a few shows could be taped over a few weeks and would then run throughout the year.
The Post also has contacted reps for “Wheel of Fortune” for comment.
However, Smith isn’t the only celebrity who’s expressed interest in the gig.
While discussing Sajak’s retirement Tuesday on “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg, 67, chimed in, saying, “I want that job,” adding that it would be “lots of fun.”
Meanwhile, some fans are calling on resident letter-turner Vanna White, 66, to take over Sajak’s role amid a report that she is worried she will be let go after her longtime partner in crime’s departure.
And then there’s Sajak’s 28-year-old daughter, Maggie.
She joined “Wheel” in 2021 as its social media correspondent and temporarily filled in for White in May while the letter-turner competed on “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”
Last December, Pat told Maggie that she was “a good host” after she led a holiday trivia segment, which led to fans wondering whether the show was “grooming” her to take over for either White — or her own father.
