‘Wheel of Fortune’ Bosses Are Nervous to Lose Ryan Seacrest Amid ‘Terrible’ Jim Thornton Scandal

Wheel of Fortune bosses are nervous that the sordid scandal surrounding announcer Jim Thornton‘s firing could drive host Ryan Seacrest out of the door, a source tells Closer.

“[It’s] a terrible situation for the Wheel of Fortune universe, which includes the people making the show, its millions of fans, and the bosses at Sony TV who call the shots,” says the source, adding that Thornton “went from a cog in the WoF machine to a volcano of bad press for the franchise overnight.”

A Sony spokesperson confirmed to Closer that the 61-year-old announcer was terminated from the game show on Friday, September 4, following a thorough investigation into allegations that he accessed an online chat room that appeared to discuss pedophilic thoughts while on a commercial flight in May.

Right now, “the focus for Sony is on isolating Ryan and Vanna White from the damage this is doing to the show’s reputation,” the source reveals. “It’s going to be very difficult for Sony to put the focus back on the episodes they’ve been pumping out when Jim’s exit is so fresh in everybody’s minds, and Ryan is somebody who is particularly allergic to any kind of scandal and innuendo.”

As Closer previously reported, Seacrest, 51, isn’t interested in becoming embroiled with the controversy surrounding Thornton’s axing.

“Ryan doesn’t need these kinds of bad vibes when he’s still deciding how much more time he wants to devote to this job,” notes the source. “Sony needs to incentivize him to stick around and weather this storm with them, and they need to do that as soon as possible!”

Thornton has not been arrested or charged with a crime and in a statement to Page Six, attorney Allison Hart said that he mistakenly accessed lifeline.chat after believing it was connected to the suicide-prevention site 988lifelife.org.

“My client has become active in suicide-prevention advocacy since losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, and he has spent time visiting chat rooms offering support to individuals suffering from suicidal ideation,” she wrote, adding that Thornton was directed to lifeline.chat after an acquaintance in the suicide-prevention community directed him to the chat forum and that he left the site once he realized what it was.