Jim Thornton's 10th Year as Wheel of Fortune Announcer!!

This may or may not come as a surprise to anyone, but would you believe that this year marks Jim Thornton's 10th year as announcer for Wheel of Fortune?! Amazing, isn't it? It's more amazing how far along Jim Thornton has come in his ten years as announcer, just as it was for Wheel of Fortune in the ten years since the passing of the late great Charlie O'Donnell (November 2010). Needless to say, there are many of us who knew and believed that Jim would become the next announcer for Wheel during the search in the 2010-2011 season. You see, from what I remember (long story short), when the search began following the passing of Charlie in November 2010, it started with Johnny Gilbert who sat in for about a week or so. Then, there was Rich Fields, who had just left The Price is Right after six years as announcer. Next, Jim Thornton would step in for about a couple of weeks, followed a series of others including John Cramer, Joe Capriano, and Lora Cain--the first female announcer for Wheel of Fortune.

I will say for the record, I didn't really get much out of the latter three because I was placing my bets more on Rich Fields and Jim Thornton; who, needless to say, had both also participated in The Price is Right announcer search in 2004. In which case, the winner for that show ultimately went to Rich Fields. Nevertheless, as the rest of the 2010-2011 season progressed, we would hear Jim Thornton's voice for the majority of episodes before he became semi-permanent by the end of the season and full-time by the beginning of Season 29 (2011-2012)! So, having said all of this, I would like to say congratulations to Jim Thornton for making it to 10 years as Wheel of Fortune announcer!

Here's to an addition 10 years down the road!