Hoda Kotb Reveals Her Least Favorite ‘Today’ Show Interview Ever

Hoda Kotb is dishing on which of her TODAY show guests was the worst interview she had ever experienced, “bar none.” The morning show co-host admitted that one guest in particular stands out when quizzed about her years on the show by former colleague Kathie Lee Gifford during Tuesday’s Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.

During the “Plead the Fifth” segment, Gifford questioned Kotb about who their mutual least favorite guest was from their time on TODAY. “Who do you think was my least favorite guest of all time?” asked Gifford. “And I bet it was yours too.” Kotb was quick to answer, “I know exactly who that is. It’s Frank Sinatra Jr. It was the worst guest we’ve ever had, bar none. He came for a book, he had a book he was promoting, and he didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t say anything.”

While Kotb refused to answer the other question on “Plead the Fifth,” which was when Gifford had annoyed her most before going on air, she somehow managed to name three of her co-star’s songs, despite initially struggling. Kotb and Gifford hosted the TODAY show’s fourth hour together for 11 years together before Gifford announced she would be stepping down from the show in April 2019. During her farewell to the show, Gifford couldn’t say enough kind words about Kotb and the friendship they had built over the years.

“God brought Hoda into my life for all kinds of different reasons,” she said at the time on the show. “I was supposed to learn from her. She was supposed to learn from me. We were supposed to share life together.” Gifford added she “never dreamed” she would make another best friend in her 50s but added she “realized that the heart is not a pie that can be divvied up into just so many slices. The heart expands. It just gets bigger and makes more room for people in it. She just fills such a huge part of my heart now. And always will.”

Gifford was likewise praised by Kotb, who said her co-star “totally jumped into my life in a way that I had never experienced before.” She added that she was “transfixed” by her friend at their first meeting. “I don’t know if you’ve ever had that chemistry where you connect with someone like that. I had it, and it was a feeling I’d never had before — that kind of intensity,” Kotb gushed.