Here comes Craig Melvin!
The broadcast journalist revealed Thursday that he will be taking over for Hoda Kotb when she exits the “Today” show on Jan. 10.
“Craig Melvin is the new anchor of the ‘Today’ show!” Savannah Guthrie gushed of “one of the most popular decisions NBC News has ever made.”
Kotb told her replacement, “You were made for this job. … You have all the things that this job needs. You’re the right person for it.”
Al Roker, for his part, admitted that he did not “have the words” but was “so happy” for his colleague.
As for an “excited and grateful” Melvin, he said it meant “a lot to inherit” the role from Kotb, as she is “the heart of” the show.
“This is the latest in a long line of blessings,” Melvin, who will continue continue doing the third hour of “Today” with Roker, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer, added. “I talked to Mom and Dad yesterday, and I’m thankful they’re still young enough and healthy enough to be able to see this.”
The update came nearly two months after Kotb, 60, announced her shock departure to viewers after 26 years at NBC.
“I decided this is the right time for me to kind of move on,” she said on Sept. 26. “And so with all that being said, this is the hardest thing in the world.
“I’m not gonna be here past the first of the year,” the former “Dateline” correspondent continued before clarifying, “I’m gonna stay in the NBC family, but it’s kind of a big deal for me.”
As rumors swirled about her possible replacement, Kotb joked as recently as Monday that she did not have a clue who would step in.
She joined NBC News in 1998, becoming the co-host of the “Today” show’s fourth hour nearly one decade later with Kathie Lee Gifford.
Kotb has co-hosted alongside Jenna Bush Hager since Gifford’s exit in 2019.
Additionally, Kotb has been Guthrie’s “Today” show co-anchor since Matt Lauer’s firing in 2018.
That same year, Melvin, now 45, stepped in as co-host of the show’s third hour and news anchor earlier in the morning.
He has been with the network since 2011.
“We are beyond thrilled to have Craig step into the co-anchor chair,” senior vice president Libby Leist said in a statement Thursday. “He’s been an integral and beloved part of our family.”
She continued, “From breaking news coverage in the field to presidential interviews to multiple Olympics and Super Bowls, Craig’s shown he has the talent and the range to cover all that we do here at ‘Today.’ And he does it without ever losing that Southern charm.”
After the announcement, all of the anchors did shots in the studio to celebrate bourbon-loving Melvin.
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