NEWS'I Just Don't Want to Screw It Up!': Craig Melvin Admits He's Nervous' to Fill Hoda Kotb's Shoes as New 'Today' Co-Host
Craig Melvin admitted he's nervous to fill Hoda Kotb's shoes on 'Today.'
Craig Melvin, who was recently named as Hoda Kotb’s Today show replacement, opened up about his anxiety regarding the new gig.
Craig Melvin claimed his new position is a job he's been working toward his entire life.
“I’m nervous,” Melvin said of the promotion. “The show is a beloved national institution that has been around for about 73 years. No one wants to be the person who’s at the helm of the ship when the ship finds ice.”
Melvin does have quite the impressive track record in the news industry, having worked at NBC for the last 13 years. He also has been a news anchor on the Today 3rd Hour show since 2018.
“But I’ve never done this,” he explained to People. “I’m anxious but at the same time, it’s the first time I’ve been this excited about anything outside the day I got married and the birth of my two children. I am beyond stoked.”
Craig Melvin has worked at NBC for the last 13 years.
Paying tribute to Kotb, Melvin shared her shoes are not “ones” he can simply just “step into.”
“We’ve put those shoes on the shelf,” the news anchor shared, “because that’s an impossible feat. I’m just going to wear my shoes and keep my fingers crossed.” While Melvin noted this is an “exciting” next part of his career, he also called it a “scary” time due to him spending “decades” working toward this and finally achieving it.
“Well now, I don’t want to screw it up,” he elaborated. “And that’s where I am now. I just don’t want to screw it up.”
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Craig Melvin said he doesn't want to 'screw up' his new job.
Kotb is very confident in her replacement, calling Melvin the “natural perfect person” for the job.
“I told him, ‘There’s nothing to be worried about,’” she shared. “‘You have all the things that you need.’”
Kotb also claimed Melvin will be in good hands with Savannah Guthrie, the co-anchor of the Today show.
Guthrie also shared her thoughts on Melvin joining her, stating, “We support each other and have each other’s backs. Craig has proven himself to be an incredible journalist, a basically flawless broadcaster, a warm, engaging interviewer and a wonderful colleague and teammate. We’re just so lucky that the perfect person for this job was sitting right next to us the whole time.”
Craig Melvin claims they will have to 'wheel him out' of his new job when it's time for him to retire.
Melvin added he will stay as long as possible at the network.
“They’re going to wheel me out of that place,” he joked. “I’m taking the Al Roker approach. You are going to get so sick of seeing and hearing Craig Melvin. I’m not going anywhere.”
On September 26, 2024, Kotb announced she was leaving the morning show.
"I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new," she said at the time. "I remembered standing outside looking at these beautiful bunch of people with these gorgeous signs, and I thought, 'This is what the top of the wave feels like for me.' And I thought it can't get better, and I decided that this is the right time for me to kind of move on."
