Savannah Guthrie is the host of the new Wordle game show.
The journalist made the “big announcement” on Monday’s episode of the “Today” show, along with Jimmy Fallon, the project’s executive producer.
“There’s been a secret between us for a long time,” the 54-year-old anchor gushed.
Fallon, 51, replied: “We’re really happy for you. We were looking for the perfect host for this show. We needed someone who looked like he played Wardle and knew how to run a show.”
“We did the pilot and you were amazing,” the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” host continued, referring to Guthrie, who guest-hosted on “Jeopardy!” 2 weeks in 2021.
The game show, based on the popular New York Times puzzle of the same name, is scheduled to begin filming this summer.
News broke in October that Wordle was in development and that Guthrie would be hosting it.
Since then, Guthrie’s personal life has been in the headlines, primarily as his family has come to terms with the disappearance of his mother, Nancy Guthrie.
“When something happened to me and my family, they stopped everything and said, ‘We’re waiting for you,'” Savannah explained Monday. Hollywood is a really tough business, but I didn’t expect that. And I just want to say thank you, it means so much to me. ”
Fallon claimed that cast and crew alike agreed that they “couldn’t do the show” without an “amazing” host.
Guthrie went on to express mixed feelings about this “delightful” news.
“Everything is weird right now,” she said. “It’s weird to wake up every day and do the ‘Today’ show, and it’s weird to do a game show when your heart is broken. Nothing has changed in that regard, and it’s not going to be easy, but I’m determined to put one foot in front of the other.”
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home in January, and Savannah has been absent from the Today show for several months amid the crisis.
She admitted in a heartbreaking video in February that the matriarch “may already be missing,” saying, “If this were real, we would accept it, but we need to know where she is.”
Two months later, she returned to Studio 1A and co-host Craig Melvin.
“Okay, ready or not, here we go!” the Daytime Emmy winner told viewers in April. “Let’s do the news.”
At the time, she wore a yellow dress, the color symbolizing hope, remembrance, and support for Nancy’s return.
Savannah did the same on Monday, seemingly acknowledging Mother’s Day.
The former lawyer posted a touching tribute on Instagram over the weekend, writing, “I miss you with every breath. We will never stop searching for you. There will never be peace until we find you.”
Her husband Michael Feldman described Savannah as “the strongest person” in an emotional post of his own on Sunday.
