Hoda Kotb Nathan Congleton/NBC
After seven years, Hoda Kotb’s time on Today is coming to an end, and she has thoughts on who should replace her.
Though Kotb, 60, didn’t name names, she did reveal the quality her replacement must have if they want to succeed alongside Jenna Bush Hager in the show’s fourth hour. Kotb joined Today as Savannah Guthrie’s coanchor in 2018 and became cohost of the fourth hour with Bush Hager in 2019.
“The person who I want is someone who has beautiful chemistry with Jenna [Bush Hager],” she told E! News in an interview published on October 29. “That’s all I want. Because it’s never about either anchor, it’s about what’s between. So bring the chemistry.”
To Kotb, that chemistry is more important than whatever her replacement lists on their resume.
News of Hoda Kotb’s Today show exit is bittersweet for her cohosts. “I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 years old because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What’s it gonna have for me?” Kotb, […]
“I don’t care if it’s her best friend, I don’t care if it’s someone she’s worked with, if it’s some celeb,” she continued, “when she gets in sync, that’s it. If she has chemistry, it will be beautiful.”
Kotb, who has been with NBC News since 1998 and has been a coanchor on Today since 2018, admitted that she doesn’t have a voice in who replaces her. All she could do was give Bush Hager some encouragement to advocate for what “feels right.”
Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager. Nathan Congleton/NBC
“I said, ‘Jenna, feel who you want. Feel what feels right for you,’” she explained. “She’ll know, because the only way it’s going to work is if they got a vibe or not. Just the fun party vibe. It can’t be forced.”
Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that Laura Jarrett could be in the running for the job. Jarrett, 40, cohosts Saturday Today with Peter Alexander. She filled in on the weekday show on Monday, October 28, while Bush Hager was out sick.
While Monday may have been a test run, an insider at NBC told Us Weekly in September that Jarrett is a top candidate for the job.
Hoda Kotb surprised viewers by announcing her upcoming exit from the Today show after 17 years on Thursday, September 26, and behind-the-scenes chatter about her replacement has already begun. “The big contender who everyone at the network is talking about is Laura Jarrett — she has a really strong chance,” an NBC insider exclusively tells […]
“The big contender who everyone at the network is talking about is Laura Jarrett,” the insider said on September 26. “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.”
Jarrett is still relatively new to NBC, joining the network in 2022 and taking on the Saturday Today role in 2023, replacing Kristen Welker.
The insider added that Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones and Carson Daly could all be candidates for the job as well.
Kotb has not yet revealed what’s next for her after her run on Today ends, but the mother of two has indicated she wants to spend more time with her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5. She gave one hint as to what her next step will look like on the October 25 episode of Today.
“What I want to do is I want to live in wellness,” she said. “I want to work in that space. I want to start things. I’ve got things that are percolating inside that I’m gonna, hopefully, have fully formed soon.”
