Savannah Who? Hoda Kotb Brought To UK, As TODAY Ratings Underwhelm
July 31 2012, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
New TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie's struggles continue, as NBC, reacting to underachieving ratings, has enlisted Hoda Kotb into London to boost their Olympic coverage.
"They called Hoda on Thursday begging her to go to London because they said it wasn’t working like they thought," a source told the New York Daily News
of the decision.
Kotb was scheduled for a vacation, but wound up being summoned across the pond to contribute to the coverage alongside Guthrie, Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales and Al Roker. She made her first appearance in London Tuesday.
"Packing my bags and heading to London this weekend -- thx for all the story suggestions," the 47-year-old beauty tweeted Friday. "You know I will do them!"
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As we previously reported, Guthrie, 40, took over for Ann Curry after TODAY lost a 16-year lead over Good Morning America earlier this year. In her first month on the job, she's faced the same issues as her predecessor, as Good Morning America continues to present a formidable challenge to its Peacock network rival.
A source told us exclusively, "Ann feels completely vindicated by the TODAY show's poor ratings since she left, as she feels she was fired completely unfairly and wasn't given a fair shot at the gig.
"Ann feels she was made a scapegoat by the network and that it's the whole show that needed an overhaul, not her replacing … Ann believes that point has been proved by the show's ratings declining even further since she left."
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While Curry, 55, "has no hard feelings towards" Guthrie, the source said the journalist does have hard feelings for Matt Lauer, "who she feels threw her under the bus completely."
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