Rat Sajak

> "*Rat is a very mysterious fellow... and he works in mysterious ways, much like the God." -* A quote from Alex Mankin when describing Rat Sajak. [1]
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**Rat Sajak** is a character who was improvised for the playthrough of *Wheel of Fortune*. He is based on the representation of Pat Sajak, the actual long-running host of Wheel of Fortune, within the game. He is generally portrayed as being gross and sinister. ProZD and Manky alternate providing his voice and give him a scratchy-sounding voice.

## Background

As implied by his name, Rat Sajak is actually a rat or a number of rats disguised as a human. He lives in the sewer and was born in a place called Charleston, Nest Virginia. The main things that he feels passionate about include Ricotta Cheese, spinning wheels and licking Ricotta Cheese off of wheels. ProZD and Manky attempt to help him to become more open-minded about his interests, and it is only through them that he learns that there are types of cheese other than Ricotta Cheese . He is also in love with his grocer, Hugo, who sells him "brocolate" (brown broccoli which he claims is chocolate) and is apparently the actual Victor Hugo.

Although he has random moments of being nice, he is mostly sinister and taunts others. In early episodes, he has the player's wife held hostage (or has hidden her body), and the Wheel of Fortune answers are said to be clues as to her location. In a later episode, he talks about having pushed another contestant's entire "trusting and fragile" family down a flight of stairs. He also attempts to bar people from actually going to Hawaii, by sailing around the state with a handgun in an attempt to shoot down anyone who enters. However, he has never been successful at preventing anyone from entering Hawaii; on the contrary, he has attracted more people to Hawaii due to being treated as an unusual sight for tourists .

In Episode 15, his son is improvised into existence. Known as Brat Sajak, he speaks in a throatier version of Rat's voice. He hates cheese and only seems to enjoy pooping, although he does also say that he loves his father in one heartwarming moment. ProZD and Manky decided that the character would only be allowed to exist if the current game was able to finish without crashing; if it crashed, that would be considered the end of the only timeline in which Brat existed. They ultimately made it to the end of the game, which cemented Brat Sajak as canon. This was to the dismay of Rat Sajak, who felt that he could not connect to Brat and did not want to be a father. It was later established that 14 years pass in the game world between each gaming session, and that Brat Sajak has turned 15 by that next session.

The missing wife subplot made an abrupt return at the end of Episode 28 going into Episode 29. Once again, the answers acted as clues to her whereabouts. Although he implied that she was dead, Rat later admitted that he had forgotten what he did with her. As they uncovered more clues, he remembers the true story: he did not kill her, but instead they had a friendly talk, which helped the wife decide to leave ProZD's avatar and depart on an airplane.

### Finale

For the final episode of the series, one of the contestants, James, is established to be Rat's son, now referred to as Rat (Ratrick) Junior. Rat Junior was now 40 years old, though he looked closer to 15. He was said to still be in high school and then claimed to be in college, before admitting that he had dropped out and had been taking drugs the whole time, which made him look perpetually young. The stakes were high for Rat in that final game, as he found out through a letter read in the middle of the episode that he had lost his house, and it also turned out that Rat Junior had ruined their cast-iron Dutch oven by letting their rats into it in an attempt to make a poop pie.

It was established that the game's Bad Ending would be the scenario in which Rat Junior won that game. Ultimately, Rat Junior kept messing up (with Rat claiming that his love for him decreased with each failure and was on the verge of turning into hate), and the other contestant, Paige, was the final victor. This ushered in the Good Ending. In this ending, Rat and Rat Junior were sent to live in the streets, but they were ultimately found by Rat's love interest, Hugo, who took them away to live with him in his mansion.

## Other Rats

In Episode 4, it is revealed that there are many different variants of Rat Sajak. One of them, Light Rat Sajak, was featured as the host of that episode, as he had a slightly lighter version of his suit. Various Rat Sajak variants are mentioned afterwards:

* Light Rat Sajak (he's exactly one percent nicer)
* Plaid Rat Sajak
* Mad Rat Sajak
* Bad Rat Sajak (he's one percent worse)
* Mt. Rushmore Rat Sajak
* Pepperoni Rat Sajak
* Lose A Turn Rat Sajak
* Football Rat Sajak
* Checkerboard Rat Sajak
* Film Director Rat Sajak
* God Rat Sajak
* Tennis Shoe Rat Sajak
* Naruto Rat Sajak
* Porcupine Rat Sajak ("Oh he's the spiky one!!")
* Las Vegas Rat Sajak (has the most interesting backstory)
* Incompetent Game Designer Rat Sajak (he made this game)
* Mafia Rat Sajak (Light Rat Sajak owes him a lot of money)
* Franky Rat Sajak (a big fan of Franky from *One Piece*)
* Evil Rat Sajak (This Rat Sajak is 1% more evil compared to the regular version.)

## In Other Series

* Rat was referred to in two subsequent episodes of the *New Super Mario Bros. U* playthrough. In both cases, different enemies (Waddlewings in the former and Swoops in the latter) were referred to as rats. In the former, the enemies were also called Rat Sajaks. In the latter episode, Rat Sajak objected to comparing the Swoops to rats and called it racist.
* Rat was also mentioned in Episode 7 of the *Okage* playthrough, in which they speculate that he might have been born in the underground sewer of Madril.
* In Episode 3 of the *Eternal Sonata* playthrough, Manky wonders if the rat boss is Rat Sajak's cousin. ProZD's answer is that "all rats are his cousin".
* In Episode 4 of the *Overcooked* playthrough, one level involves mice stealing the player's food. ProZD refers to one as Rat, and Rat then comments that he steals mushrooms in hopes of making a spring salad with them. He was referenced again when they replayed the level in Episode 14, and he mentioned that he loved mushrooms. The latter cameo was notable as being his first appearance after the finale of *Wheel of Fortune*.
* He is referenced in an episode of *Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations*(which itself is referencing Maya's 'guest appearance' on *Wheel of Fortune*), where Maya and Phoenix talk about what they did with the money that they won from his show.
* In Episode 5 of the *Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge* playthrough, after Banjo dies in the form of a rat, they realize how hard it is to be a rat. Rat's voice briefly returns to hum that "It's hard to be a rat...".

## Trivia

* By Episode 28, he has turned 140 years old, which he says is the life expectancy for his species. He also claims that a total of 80 years have passed in the game world since ProZD and Manky started playing the game.
* He claims that he only makes 100 dollars per game and has to pay the winner's money out of pocket, which has caused him to have financial problems.
* In later videos, ProZD's avatar specifically dresses in yellow cheese-like colors in order to entice Rat Sajak.
* In Episode 27, it is revealed that he is aware of the nature of his existence as a fictional character, but he is fine with it.
* In Episode 25, Rat claimed that all of the other contestants are computers that he programmed himself after taking online CS courses, and that is the reason why they sometimes make such irrational guesses. However, ProZD and Manky doubt the validity of this claim.
* He turns out to be a big fan of Bijou from Hamtaro, only to be heartbroken when she is dismissive of him during her random cameo.
* He is canonically a very big fan of PBnT, and loves the River City Ransom and Elebits playthroughs. He is also a big fan of Maya Fey and Phoenix Wright. It is uncertain if they feel the same way.
* Fun Rat Fact: he lost his sense of smell when he was younger, due to smelling too many diapers in a cabin in the woods. Because of this, he apparently only enjoys cheese due to "pure texture and sensation".
* In episode 4, ProZD and Manky learn that "periwinkle" is a very offensive word to rats, thus they don't use it on the show. Rat has been overheard saying "Fucking periwinkling fucks!"
* He has made different statements about Pat Sajak. In Episode 2, he claims to have eaten him. However, in Episode 4, he claims to have never heard of him.
* He has two thugs working for him named Anno D. and Liven, also referred to as "the boys". If someone gets their spot on the wheel, they will break the contestant's kneecaps. They return later on with a different role of calling out spots on the wheel, joined by Homer Simpson.
* Rat's equivalent of Vanna White is named Ratta Byte.

## Quotes

**Rat:** What's a ress-ort? **ProZD:** Resort. **Rat:** Is that a type of cheese? **ProZD:** No, it's not a type of cheese. It's a place you go for relaxing... **Rat:** I'd like that. **ProZD:** With all the money you have, I think you'd love it! **Rat:** Can you spin a wheel there?! **ProZD:** Y'know, Rat, not everything's about spinning a wheel. **Rat:** Wha... What?! Wait, what else can you do beside spin beside a wheel? **Manky:** Oh, so many things, Rat! **ProZD:** You could go swimming... **Manky:**  *(singing)* You could ride a bike, or take a- **Rat:** *(singing)* Is that a kind of cheese? **Manky:** Oh no, Rat!

**Rat:** What is "sriracha"? **ProZD:** Y'know, Rat. If you want, you could put it on your ricotta! It'd spice it up a little bit. **Rat:** You could put things... on your ricotta...? **ProZD:** You could! **Rat:** Why doesn't anyone tell me these things? My mom said there's literally nothing else in the world but ricotta cheese! **ProZD:** I don't know what your mom's motives were...

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 7: Almost Got the Boys https://youtu.be/p8HY6R\_C1Sg?t=453
2. ↑ *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 13: Stylin' 'n Smilin' https://youtu.be/uHdL-Q6-80o?t=400
3. ↑ *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 12: Siri Story https://youtu.be/B2ljd\_w4Z\_E?t=25
4. ↑ *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 4: Berenstainsgiving https://youtu.be/fyGfQxjKqGM?t=314
5. ↑ *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 16: Make Better Jokes https://youtu.be/rH2AKKu2mqU?t=824
6. ↑ *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 29: Solving Our Wife's Murder https://youtu.be/iUb2-Gs0CH8?t=558
7. ↑ *Wheel of Fortune* Episode 8: Rat's Favorite Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTUuBLLNrRk