‘The View’: Elisabeth Hasselbeck to Return as Guest Host on the Daytime Talk Show
The View will soon have alum Elisabeth Hasselbeck return to the table as a temporary guest co-host. She will reportedly hold the conservative seat until a new addition joins as a voice for the party during the show’s next season, which is number 26.
Read on to learn more about tensions on set during Hasselbeck’s time on the show, when she’s scheduled to come back, and how she lost an ally during her 2020 visit.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck left ‘The View’ for Fox News in 2013
As reported by Variety, things were tense on the set of The View before Hasselbeck’s exit. She’d been part of the show since 2003 and established the conservative seat.
After one particularly heated disagreement, the show’s creator and longtime co-host, Barbara Walters, told Hasselbeck on-air to listen to what others had to say about over-the-counter morning-after pills.
Afterward, Hasselbeck had a meltdown backstage. “F*** that,” she said in a leaked conversation with co-host Joy Behar. “I’m not going to sit there and get reprimanded on the air.”
Behar seemed sympathetic but could hardly get a word in as Hasselbeck fumed and cursed over the interaction with Walters. “I don’t even swear. She has me swearing,” she claimed after saying the f-word several times. “This woman is driving me nuts.”
Hasselbeck said then that she wanted to quit. But she eventually returned to her seat, where she and Walters made amends. However, she left the show in 2013, taking a seat on Fox News channel’s Fox and Friends.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is returning to ‘The View’ as a guest co-host
Hasselbeck is joining The View again as a guest co-host, and she shared her excitement, despite the past. “It will be an honor to cohost The View, share our bestselling children’s book, Flashlight Night, and as always tackle hot topics!” she told PEOPLE.
“Pray for me y’all!” she added. She’s set to return on August 3, and Alyssa Farah Griffin is reportedly filling the conservative seat permanently in the show’s 26th season.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck lost an ally on ‘The View’ after her 2020 visit
After Hasselbeck visited The View in 2020, fellow conservative and former co-host Meghan McCain went on the record and said she didn’t want to see her back. She said that was because she felt Hasselbeck made “really, really unfortunate and dangerous” statements regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the power of prayer.
“I don’t need to co-host with her again, and it’s unfortunate because I’ve been a huge fan of her for a long time,” McCain told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live.
She offered, “Anybody who’s screwing around with this virus and sort of putting out misinformation, I don’t have a lot of time for right now.”
Hasselbeck fired back at McCain on Instagram, accusing her of being “aggressive” toward her “during such a stressful time” and misrepresenting her quote.
