It’s been three months since the TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84 year-old mother Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Sadly, no trace of her has been found, and she remains missing at this time.
On Monday morning, Savannah announced a surprising career move as the search for Nancy continues.
Savannah’s ‘Big Announcement’
During yesterday’s episode of TODAY, Savannah, 54, made the “big announcement” that she will be hosting a new Wordle game show. Jimmy Fallon, 51, joined her as it was revealed that he will be executive producing the program.
“This is very exciting, I have a big announcement to make,” Jimmy began. “We’ve been developing Wordle as a game show for the past two-and-a-half years with The New York Times, and it’s official — we are making Wordle Game Show with our host, Savannah Guthrie!”
For those of you who don’t know, Wordle is a web-based word game that is owned by the New York Times. When playing the game, players have six attempts to guess a hidden five-letter word.
“We’ve been holding in a secret between us for a long time now,” Savannah gushed. “And we’re going to make Wordle a game show.”
“I’m so happy it’s you,” Jimmy said. “We were looking, we’re like, ‘Who’s the perfect host of this?’ We need to have someone that looks like they play Wordle, someone that knows how to run a show and host it, and we did the pilot, and you are amazing, by the way.”
“I thought you picked me because I have a skirt that looks like a Wordle!” Savannah quipped.
Savannah Excited For New Game Show
Savannah went on to describe the new game show as being “super fast-paced and fun” and a “great family game.”
“I love a game and a show that you can watch with kids and you feel like they’re learning some things,” she added.
When Savannah asked Jimmy for hosting tips, he responded by saying that she is “fantastic.” He also said that the entire crew agreed that they could not do this game show without her.
After taking a pause, Savannah thanked everyone involved with the show as she briefly referenced her mother’s February 1 abduction.
“We’ve been working on this for a really long time, and actually we just found out in February that we got picked up and we were supposed to shoot in March,” Savannah said.
“And I just want to say a quick thank you to NBC and to Jimmy and his production company and the The New York Times and the studio and Universal because when everything happened with me and my family, they just stopped everything and said ‘We’ll wait for you,'” she continued. “And Hollywood is a really tough business, and I didn’t expect that, and I just want to say thank you, it means so much to me.”
“We can’t do it without you,” Fallon told Savannah.
“It kind of feels strange to do everything right now, but this is something that’s full of joy,” Savannah concluded.
Shooting for Wordle Game Show is set to begin this summer. Savannah ended the segment by saying that they are looking for contestants now.
Nancy’s Abduction
Sadly, this comes after a nightmarish few months for Savannah and her family. Indeed, her mother Nancy was shockingly abducted from her Tucson, Arizona home in the middle of the night over three months ago.
Nancy was last seen on the night of Saturday, January 31. That evening, she had dinner with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni. They dropped her off at home afterwards at around 9:45pm, and she tragically hasn’t been seen since.
A masked intruder was captured on Nancy’s doorbell ring camera in the early hours of February 1. He managed to cover the camera with some plants before moving forward with the kidnapping.
It has since been revealed that the masked man had been seen in the doorbell ring camera prior to the night Nancy was taken. This indicates that he may have been casing out her home.
Sadly, no trace of Nancy has been found, and the desperate search for her continues.
Savannah Returns To TODAY
Savannah bravely returned to the TODAY show on April 6. She’d spent the previous two months in Tucson desperately trying to find her mother, to no avail. Finally, Savannah decided that she needed to get back to both her job and her family, which includes her husband and two young children.
“I will not fall apart,” Savannah, 54, defiantly told her former TODAY colleague Hoda Kotb just before her return. “I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them, I will not let them take my joy.”
“They will not take my sister’s joy, they will not take my brother’s joy,” she continued. “They will not take our love, they will not take our faith. But our anguish is real. We need help. We need someone to tell the truth.”
While it may be surprising that Savannah would choose to host a game show right now, we can also certainly see why she wants to do things that will bring her joy during this tragic time. We wish her the best of luck with Wordle Game Show.
Please join us in saying a prayer for Savannah, and for the return of Nancy Guthrie.