[Music] [Applause] [Music] it was opening night for Ryan seest on Monday's episode of Wheel of Fortune and so perhaps it was appropriate that the first puzzle out of the gate was opening night based off the clue show biz it feels that way over here CEST remarked after one of the shows contestants solved the game syndicated game show Mainstay will of Fortune returned on Monday for its season 42 with some big changes including a new set which Secrest noted came with a lot of lights and of course the biggest change of them all a new host that was acknowledged up top when announcer Jim Thornton opened the show and now together for the first time here are the stars of our show Ryan Crest and Vanna White after CES thanked Thornton for the open white turned to her new colleague and welcomed him to the show so happy to be here seest said to White so happy to have you white responded with that before introducing the nights players CEST gave a brief monologue to the audience I am your host Ryan CEST I still can't believe my luck of being here with you tonight to continue this Legacy of this incredible show with all of you and of of course my good friend Vanna White thank you for the very warm welcome he added hosting will of Fortune is a dream job I've been a fan of this show since I was a kid watching it in Atlanta with my family and I know how special it is that will has been in your living rooms for the past 40 years and I'm just so grateful to be invited in I also know I've got some very big shoes to fill so let's play Wheel of Fortune in the opener cus noticeably didn't mention the person whose shoes he was replacing by name however Pat sagic who signed off from the show in June after more than 40 years as host sagic and CEST along with white appeared in a promo together this summer serving as more of an official past the batan moment sagic will still be seen this fall in ABC's Prime Time edition of celebrity Wheel of Fortune which reps his last turn on the show CEST taped this first episode of The Syndicate version in July at the time he shared a behind the scenes look at his first day hosting Wheel of Fortune via an Instagram video I'm still spinning with excitement he wrote on the post that showed him entering the set for the first time I'm so excited my heart's pounding he said in the video the wheels may be smaller than you think as am I he joked spinning the wheel for the first time I could not sleep last night I was so excited I slept okay but still very excited for the alarm to go off as for night one things went smoothly including his first batch of contestants Kina from Denver Cindy from Lake Tahoe and big winner Terry from North Carolina Terry ultimately went home with two trips and a total of $2,849 although he missed on the $40,000 grand prize in the end white asked CEST how he felt with the first show under his belt I feel like we did one he said what was great was everyone got to walk away with some money I was really hoping that would happen on my first night as variety noted in a recent profile of seest the host studied intently while taking over the gig for the story he went through Wheels more than 8,000 episode archive watching hundreds of shows and cherry-picking moments from each decade to learn the nuances of the game executive producer Bellamy Blackstone also built a miniature version of the wheel and they practiced in conference rooms around the country while sec traveled for work by the time Ryan walked on that set he was so prepared that he could just do what he does best and connect to those contestants in a very authentic way Suzanne prit president of game shows at Sony Pictures Television said in that story he's really fun he overd delivered in that aspect it's just a whole new energy