While some Today hosts got an early start to the weekend, two of their colleagues added an extra day to their work schedule.
Sunday Today’s Willie Geist and Saturday Today coanchor Laura Jarrett filled in for Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on the Friday, October 18, episode of the NBC morning show. “Savannah, Hoda and Craig got a jumpstart on their weekends,” Geist, 49, stated at the top of the second hour of Today.
Jarrett, 40, served double duty by stepping in for Melvin and Sheinelle Jones to cohost the third hour of Today with Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer. Both she and Today contributor Kaylee Hartung have filled in for Jones, 46, who has been absent from the show all week. (Jones has not addressed the reason for her absence via social media.)
Jarrett’s appearance comes amid speculation that she will replace Kotb, 60, on the series following her exit early next year. “She has a really strong chance,” an NBC insider exclusively told Us Weekly last month. “She’s the anchor of Weekend Today; she is a lawyer like Savannah. She’s a darling at the Today show who has risen up very quickly.”
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Jarrett has worked for NBC News since 2023 and has cohosted Saturday Today with Peter Alexander since September 2023.
“The other option is they could move around anchors. They could put Craig with Savannah, or they could put Sheinelle with Savannah,” the insider shared, noting that if Jarrett got the job, the next “big question” would be who would replace her on Saturday Today.
Kotb joined the NBC family in 1998 as a correspondent for Dateline before joining Today as Kathie Lee Gifford’s fourth hour cohost in 2008. 10 years later, she took over for Matt Lauer as Guthrie’s Today cohost after the anchor was fired following sexual misconduct allegations. Jenna Bush Hager took over Gifford’s fourth hour hosting role in 2019.
Kotb announced she is leaving Today after nearly 30 years at the network on the show’s September 26 episode, crediting turning 60 and wanting to spend more time with her kids as the main reasons behind her decision. (Kotb shares her daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, with her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman.)
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“It’s such a hard job on your life. I think the average person understands that morning TV is not glamorous,” the NBC insider told Us before gushing about Kotb’s presence on set. “She’s the person that everybody loves. She’s the same off-camera as she is on-camera and I think that’s what’s the hardest thing because that can’t be said for everybody.”
Earlier this month, Guthrie, 52, exclusively told Us that Kotb had discussed a potential Today exit with her “for years and years,” and said her friend’s decision “makes a lot of sense.”
Guthrie revealed that she found out only days before Kotb broke the news on Today, sharing, “She called me and the first thing I said to her is, ‘I’m proud of you. I love you, you’re amazing. And it doesn’t matter where we sit, we’ll always be by each other’s side.’”
Praising Kotb, Guthrie continued: “It’s pretty easy to love Hoda and it’s easy to trust Hoda. She’s such an incredible journalist as well as being a ray of sunshine. If you have to get up at these hours, you want to get up with Hoda. I hope that feeling of joy and partnership and trust is pervasive and that we carry on her legacy.”
