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It may not be the flashiest gig in showbiz, but Page Six hears that a number of very famous — and perhaps unexpected — stars are vying for the empty spot as Jenna Bush Hager’s co-host on the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” show.
“Their phone has been ringing off the hook,” said a source.
An insider told Page Six that — while the job is not well-paid by morning TV standards — it’s coveted for its track record of both transforming and revitalizing careers.
(Estimates suggest that the fourth-hour co-host makes around $5 million, or around a quarter of the salary of the main “Today” hosts.)
Hoda Kotb — who co-hosted with Kathie Lee Gifford before sharing the show with Bush Hager — exited “Today” in January.
Sources say that stars as diverse as Bravo’s Andy Cohen, NBA star Dwayne Wade and former supermodel and “America’s Next Top Model” host Tyra Banks have all privately expressed an interest in the position. (Bravo is owned by NBCUniversal Media Group.)
“Look what it did for Hoda,” said a source, “it took her from being ‘Dateline NBC’ Hoda to the Hoda we know today.”
Meanwhile, they said that for Kathie Lee Gifford — who left the post in 2019 — it was a “second act” after her long tenure as the foil to Regis Philbin on “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee.”
“And Jenna was a librarian, basically, before that,” they said. (She was a teacher at a charter school before her TV career began.)
Bush has spun the job into an influential position in the publishing world after founding the “Read With Jenna” on-air monthly book club in 2019.
Since Kotb left, the show has been temporarily renamed “Today With Jenna and Friends,” and has seen a rotating cast of co-hosts including Taraji P. Henson, Keke Palmer, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, Ciara and Wynonna Judd, and others.
