For 37 years, Vanna White has sashayed back and forth across the “Wheel of Fortune” stage, revealing tens of thousands of consonants and vowels and making five-inch heels look easy. (By one estimate, she’s walked more than 2,000 miles on that stage.)

On Monday evening, for the first time, White, 62, stepped away from the big letter board and into the role of host, beginning a three-week stint leading the classic game show — and kicking off her heels while she’s at it.

On Nov. 8, “Wheel of Fortune” producers announced that the longtime host Pat Sajak, 73, had emergency surgery to correct a blocked intestine. Since the show was in the middle of taping, it needed a fill-in while Sajak recuperated. So White, a durable icon of American entertainment but mostly silent during the games, was asked to take the wheel. The request was a surprise to White, to say the least.

“I’ve never even thought of that in 37 years,” White said in an interview last week, “and to be asked almost on the spot, ‘How do you feel about hosting the show?’ Like, what?!”