It’s a busy year for Pat McAfee. Amid the unsurmountable pressure from Ole Miss freshman Mary Kate Cornett, a live Pittsburgh show on April 9 where he joked about getting his “first lawsuit”, and its impending repercussions, duty calls seem to have taken precedence again. Jetting off to Sin City for Wrestlemania 41 with his wife Samantha, it was supposed to be “no play, all work” kind of holiday. The missus, who has been a strong presence beside her multi-talented husband for close to two decades, however, had other things in mind. More specifically, a jam-packed (read: fun) schedule in the city that deserves so. But before we hop onto that, let’s look at the interesting turn her husband’s life just took…

Ever since Pat McAfee joined ESPN’s College GameDay in 2022, his dynamic energy and sports persona have redefined the program, evident through GameDay averaging 2.2M viewers—the most in the show’s 38-year history. Well, his importance to College GameDay is only going to grow bigger from this season. However, with Lee Corso’s retirement after the first week of the 2025 season sending shockwaves in the community, ESPN finds itself in a dicey situation. Can McAfee be expected to take over 38 years of legacy and become an even greater asset to College GameDay’s dominance in viewership? Well, maybe. From blending college football fans with their unique traditions and chants to his field-goal kicking contests every GameDay, the punter-turned-broadcaster has undeniably changed the way the network used to program the show.

Now add to that ESPN’s president of content, Burke Magnus, once telling Front Office Sports, “I don’t know about galvanizing college students to show up in person for the show—the crowds seemed enormous across the board. But that’s hard to quantify. I would credit Pat and his appeal with the college-aged fan,” and the writing seems almost on the wall. But more about that some other day, as we’ve become more enthralled with something else right now…

It all started with a teaser first. “The Road Wrestlemania,” read Samantha’s Instagram Story—the perfect start to a string of behind-the-scene looks. While the first update had the wife give her fans a glimpse of the vast deserts of Nevada from her plane’s window seat, Samantha soon found the perfect spot…

Her first destination? The Casino. One of Samantha’s Instagram stories showed her winning a jackpot. Her slot machine displayed “WINNER” and a prize of $2,625 as she wrote in her story, “Jackpot baybay.” It seems her luck was on point as she wreaked havoc on the casino floor. Later, she shared another story in which Samantha won big AGAIN!

This time, the slot machine showed “Big Win 3864” as Samantha wrote “Love a good big win” on her story. Besides showing us her incredible luck, Samantha also shared other things she enjoyed aside from those Jackpots. She shared some exotic foods and snapshots from the luxury restaurant she went to on her first night in Vegas. But among all those things, Samantha was blown away by one thing that you couldn’t even guess in your dreams…

She couldn’t help but admire the way those bathrooms in her restaurant were designed. Showing her fans the incredible lavatory, Samantha wrote in her story, “A moment for how gorgeous this bathroom is.” Just imagine her Vegas night that started with embracing Jackpots—ended with applauding toilets. But, hey!

We’re not judging. With the eccentric personality that her husband is, it’s nice to see Samantha come out of her shell, too! After all, being together with your partner for 16 long years does leave an impression, doesn’t it? This begs us to ask the question:

How did Pat McAfee meet his wife?

For the unversed: The couple reportedly met back in 2009 when McAfee was still an NFL punter for the Indianapolis Colts and his future wife used to work as a nurse. Since then, a lot of things have changed. For example, the sports analyst finally broke free from the clutches of bachelorhood with an epic proposal. In 2019, the couple reportedly went to a post-football season Trip to Hawaii.

On one of the days, Pat took her for a visit to a coffee plantation, and then to visit a volcano and whale watching, post which they also went on a romantic helicopter ride. However, out of the blue, they landed in front of the “biggest waterfall” Samantha had ever seen. “As we were taking a cute photo at the waterfall it was at that moment my boyfriend became my fiancé. 💛,” she wrote on IG.