TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie reveals how she ‘gained 15 lbs.’ one summer

We’re almost to June, which means teenagers all around the country will be hunting for summer jobs. But for the hosts of NBC’s TODAY, it represents a look back on fonder days.

During the Wednesday, May 27 edition of the morning news show, Miami-based correspondent Jesse Kirsch presented a segment on teens in today’s day and age finding much fewer opportunities for summer jobs in 2026 as opposed to even just a year prior.

That got the hosts thinking about their own first summer gigs, with Jesse saying that his was, appropriately enough for the FIFA World Cup, refereeing soccer games. Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and Carson Daly then reflected on their own personal firsts.

Craig revealed that he “cut grass” in his neighborhood, although “oftentimes I’d bite off more than I could chew, and my dad would have to come and help me out on his way to work.”

Carson, meanwhile, would bag groceries at fireside MARKET, and was also a golf caddy, predating his own interest in the sport years later. As for Savannah, she held a couple of early summer jobs.

“Worked since I was 14, I worked at a Greek restaurant, bussing tables,” she said, including then another with a more humorous side-effect. “I worked at a cookie store one summer, and gained 15 pounds. I may have been eating some of the inventory…and it showed!”

Her anecdote left her co-anchors in hysterics, and when they turned to Al Roker reporting from Florida, he had a similar story to share of his own first summer job. “My first real job, I worked at A to Z Vending, which was right across the street from my high school.”

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“Filling boxes with goodies to go off to offices, and for an overweight high school student, it was a perfect job,” he quipped, with Savannah once again joking: “Can relate!” Al continued: “One for them, one for me! One for them, one for me,” with Savannah nodding along in full agreement.

Savannah was born in Australia in 1971 to Charles and Nancy Guthrie (the latter currently involved in a disappearance case since February 1). She grew up in Tucson, Arizona and later obtained a degree in journalism.

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She began working in broadcast media in 1993 with KTVM in Montana, moving around the country and reporting for nearly a decade before she decided to pivot with her career. In 2002, she obtained a law degree from Georgetown University, even placing first in the Arizona Bar Exam and is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Arizona as well.

Savannah then started working for the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, but eventually found her way back to journalism. Initially, it began with her as a legal correspondent for CourtTV in 2004, but in 2007, she was hired by NBC News as a correspondent.

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She then began co-anchoring the 9 AM edition of TODAY in 2011, and in 2012, she was promoted to co-host of the main TODAY hours with Matt Lauer. Following his scandal and ultimate exit, Matt was replaced by Hoda Kotb in 2017. The pair remained co-anchors until January of 2025, when Hoda exited the show and Craig was promoted to co-host with Savannah.