Sheinelle Jones Named Co-Host of At present’s Fourth Hour Following Hoda Kotb’s Departure

Sheinelle Jones has a brand new gig at At present!

Almost a 12 months after Hoda Kotb left the morning information program, it was introduced on Tuesday, Dec. 9, that Jones will develop into Kotb’s substitute to hitch Jenna Bush Hager because the everlasting co-host of the ten o’clock hour. 

In an Instagram publish from At present, this system defined Jones will be a part of Bush Hager “within the new 12 months.”

In the course of the Jan. 9 broadcast, Bush Hager started crying instantly whereas thanking the viewers. “We’ve got bought a really particular present right now. Over the past 12 months, you guys, I’ve had the privilege of co-hosting this present with 60 unbelievable pals, who’ve all opened as much as me, who impressed me, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried I’ve made some unbelievable pals and I’ve realized a lot about myself,” Bush Hager mentioned. “And also you the viewers have been with me for the whole time, so thanks a lot.”

She continued, “At present I’m so thrilled to announce that I’ve discovered my eternally good friend and we’re gonna begin a model new journey in January. I couldn’t be extra excited to share this particular person with you all. You all know her, she’s a rare broadcaster. However extra importantly, she exemplifies precisely what this present is all about.”

Since Kotb’s departure on Jan. 10, the fourth hour was renamed Jenna & Pals, as Bush Hager welcomed totally different A-list stars and colleagues to the anchor desk.  

Jones at the moment co-hosts the third Hour of At present with Dylan Dreyer, Al Roker and Craig Melvin. She’s been a part of the At present household since 2014, beginning on the Weekend At present crew, earlier than turning into co-host of the third Hour in 2019.

Late final 12 months, Jones started a go away of absence to take care of her husband, Uche Ojeh, who died in Could at age 45 after being recognized with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of mind cancer.

She returned to the information program 4 months after his loss of life on Sept. 5 in a pre-taped dialog with Savannah Guthrie. In the course of the interview, Jones defined why she was snug returning to work, and requested followers to recollect: “Should you see me now and also you see me laughing, otherwise you activate the morning present and I am laughing or having a superb time, you root for me as a result of I am preventing for my pleasure.”

“Most cancers would not should steal our pleasure,” Jones continued. “We will stand up, we will get off the bed, and we will go to work, we will go to high school, we will squeeze essentially the most out of the times that now we have. And actually, I really feel like Uche’s heartbeat lives on in mine. So I owe it to him to simply squeeze essentially the most I can out of this factor.”

Jones has been candid since returning about her journey with grief. “We get via the primary week of faculty. First week I am again at work,” she mentioned of her and the three youngsters she shared with Ojeh — Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche, 13. “Friday, once we bought house, it was powerful. There was nothing to rally ourselves for,” she defined. “It was similar to, ‘Oh, that is it. That is life. Type of sucks.’”

Whereas filling in as a visitor on Jenna + Pals on Sept. 22, Jones mentioned the loss hit her arduous on Saturday morning, after her first week again at work. It was a time she and Ojeh used to replicate on the earlier week collectively.

“My coach was gone. My life associate,” the At present co-host mentioned. “So the times after my first week had been powerful as a result of it is, like, my new regular.”

Bush Hager bought emotional in the course of the Sept. 22 episode, praising Jones for a way she has coped with Ojeh’s loss of life. “I’ve by no means met anyone stronger,” Bush Hager instructed her.

When Jones returned on Sept. 5, she defined all of the methods her colleagues had been there for her throughout Ojeh’s sickness, together with Bush Hager, who she mentioned, despatched “candy treats for the youngsters.” Including, “You guys have been my oxygen.”

Bush Hager has been co-host of the ten o’clock hour since 2019 (then titled Hoda & Jenna), when she crammed the position lengthy held by Kathie Lee Gifford, who joined Kotb on the desk in 2008.

Earlier this 12 months, Bush Hager instructed PEOPLE, “each joke that I say is humorous due to Hoda.”

She known as main the present with out Kotb a “privilege and accountability,” including, “I’ve realized from one of the best. And what large sneakers to fill as a result of her optimism is simply lovely.”