“Wheel of Fortune” star Vanna White was left puzzled after social media users called her son Nikko Santo Pietro a “thirst trap.”
Last month, White, 67, shared an Instagram video in which she and Santo Pietro were seen in the kitchen as they cooked a chicken dish. After fans used the slang phrase to describe the 30-year-old real estate agent, White appeared to be unfamiliar with the meaning of the term during Thursday’s episode of the long-running game show.
“I recently posted a video of me and my son, Nikko, cooking and it got a lot of response,” the TV personality told her co-host Ryan Seacrest as the audience cheered.
“I don’t get it,” White said with a shrug.
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“The kids are calling Nikko a thirst trap,” Seacrest, 50, explained.
The “American Idol” host informed her that fans noticed Santo Pietro was wearing a snug-fitting white T-shirt in the clip.
“Apparently, that was a very tight — he went to the Baby Gap to buy that shirt,” Seacrest joked. “It was very tight and they found him strikingly good-looking and no one knows what you cooked.”
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“What did you guys actually make?” he asked White.
“We cooked Uncle Roy’s Chicken,” White replied.
“Well, thank you Uncle Roy and thank you, Nikko, for that tight shirt,” Seacrest quipped.
White went on to tease that she would be posting another video on Thursday.
“Oh boy!” Seacrest said.
“What’s it going to be?” White said coyly to which Seacrest replied, “We’ll find out soon.”
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The “Vanna Speaks” author later shared another video of herself cooking with Santo Pietro, which was met with a similarly enthusiastic response from her followers.
After White uploaded the first cooking video in December, fans quickly took the comments section to rave over her “handsome” son and inquire about his relationship status.
“Vanna where have you been hiding Nikko ? He’s GORGEOUS,” one person wrote.
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Another commented, “Your son is hot!!!”
“He’s adorable!” one Instagram user added.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Nikko said the attention was “flattering.”
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“Obviously, I had an outpour[ing] from her fans just really being kind and saying all kinds of interesting stuff in the comments,” he said.
Santo Pietro, who works at The Agency, the real estate company owned by Mauricio Umansky, ex-husband of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Kyle Richards, added, “I’ve always loved being in front of the camera, and I work really hard on my social media. That’s a big part of what I do, so it feels natural and good.”
However, Santo Pietro was adamant that the praise wasn’t going to his head.
“People see me as this heartthrob, and they’re thirsty for me and all this stuff. I love it all, but at the same time, it’s really good to remember the meaningful things in life and just kind of dial it back, doing a lot of charity work, working hard every day,” he told the outlet.
“That’s what it is to me,” Santo Pietro continued. “Making an impact.”
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White added, “He’s such a good kid!”
She continued, “I always taught both of my children, you have to work hard to get things, it’s not just given to you. And he’s doing it.”
In addition to Santo Pietro, White shares daughter, Gigi, with her ex-husband, restaurant owner George Santo Pietro.
While some fans had expressed their hopes of finding love with Santo Pietro or setting him up with their daughters, he confirmed he was already in a relationship.
“I have an amazing girlfriend,” he told ET. “She’s an absolute sweetheart. She’s a singer-songwriter. We’ve been together for a year. She wrote a song about me. It’s really sweet that she did that.
He added that his girlfriend, Easae, who wrote the song about him titled “Karaoke,” “obviously detected the heartthrob thing before America did.”
White confirmed that she approved of Easae, saying, “She’s so sweet, she really is, down-to-earth, loving, giving.”
Nikko’s viral attention is also potentially sparking a few more television appearances.
“I would love that,” White said when asked if fans could expect to see Santo Pietro on “Wheel of Fortune.” She noted that her former co-host Pat Sajak’s daughter, Maggie Sajak, has appeared the show many times, including filling in for White while she took over Sajak’s role as host in 2020 when he underwent surgery. Maggie has also worked as the show’s social media correspondent since 2021.
“I don’t know how well I’d play the game, but I’d love to participate at some level,” Nikko added.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this report.
