Jimmy McGuire recently taped his last episode as the stage manager of Wheel of Fortune.
McGuire had been working with Sony on their game shows since 2001. He first appeared as a member of the Clue Crew on Jeopardy!, alongside Sarah Whitcomb Foss, Cheryl Farrell, and Sofia Lidskog. Their job was to travel the world and present video clues on location. In 2005, Jeopardy! also hired Jon Cannon and Kelly Miyahara for the same role.
The Clue Crew came to an end in 2022, after a 21-season run. At that point, the only remaining members were McGuire and Foss, both of whom took on new jobs at Sony. Foss now serves as a co-executive producer of the show, a co-host of the podcast Inside Jeopardy!, and the in-studio announcer. Johnny Gilbert is the voice you hear on each syndicated episode of the show, but he no longer does his announcing work in real time. Foss introduces the contestants when they’re up on stage, and Gilbert dubs over her lines afterwards.
Meanwhile, McGuire began serving as the stage manager for both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. His departure was announced on the Wheel of Fortune episode that aired on Friday, October 23, 2026. He joined Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White on stage during the show’s outro.
Other news outlets have claimed that McGuire’s decision to leave may have stemmed from announcer Jim Thornton being fired, but there is no connection there. He left voluntarily before any information about Thornton came out whatsoever. In fact, Jim Thornton was still actively doing his standard announcing work when the episode in question taped. McGuire’s last show was recorded on August 27, five days before Thornton was suspended on September 1. McGuire left the show before Sony took any action, so his departure has nothing to do with Thornton being suspended or fired.
It is currently unknown if McGuire has also left his position as the stage manager of Jeopardy!.
