Hoda Kotb returned to NBC on Friday to step in for Savannah Guthrie on “The Today Show” as the search continues for her missing 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie.
Kotb joined Carson Daly, Sheinelle Jones and Craig Melvin on the morning show desk, highlighting all the times Savannah had been there for them in their times of need.
“I think there’s this helpless feeling. I mean, we’re all so close with her and we all want to help her,” she said. “I’m looking at us and I was thinking, like, who was first in the hospital room when Hope was sick? Savannah. Who hopped on a plane when your parents? Savannah. Who was sitting by Uche? How about when your brother passed? She was there.”
“I was thinking this morning, they say love is patient. Love is kind,” Kotb further noted. “We’ll be patient and put prayers up. That’s all we can do.”
Co-host Melvin added, “This feeling of helplessness — and we’re not helpless, because it’s prayer, it’s hope. Prayer and hope.”
Their kind words came the morning after Savannah’s brother Camron issued another family statement begging Nancy’s captors to make contact following their initial, alleged ransom note.
“Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he shared. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact.”
Savannah has been absent from “The Today Show” this week amid the search. She was also forced to bow out of hosting 2026 Winter Olympics coverage ahead of the Milano Cortina Games, with Mary Carillo taking her place.
