Hoda Kotb’s jaw dropped when country star Blake Shelton revealed she may have missed a “moment” with him.
Shelton appeared as a surprise FaceTime guest on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna on Wednesday morning (January 8), two days before Kotb’s final day on the show. Kotb announced in late September that she would step down from her role at TODAY after nearly two decades. Craig Melvin will step in after Kotb’s departure.
Kotb’s co-host, Jenna Bush Hager, introduced Shelton as the surprise guest on the show. She told Shelton, who called in from his Oklahoma ranch, “Hoda was in love with you for many years. I think she’s let that go. But she still adores you and I know you adore her.”
“It’s funny, too, that you talked about Hoda saying I was her first love or whatever. I did run into her in Nashville one time, off camera, it had nothing to do with television or anything,” Shelton said later in the chat. “And I thought it was gonna be our moment. But she completely ran away from me. I mean, she ran away from me, like totally afraid of me.”
Kotb, who appeared to be in disbelief, exclaimed, “wait, what?”
“Yes. Remember? At the No. 1 party, I was like, ‘Hoda, you’re here!’ And you were like, ‘I gotta go!' And you ran,” Shelton said.
Hager needed to know: would Shelton have planned to shoot his shot if Kotb hadn’t left the party?
“Slow your roll a little bit,” Shelton replied. “I’m just saying I saw Hoda in Nashville and she ran away from me at a party. That’s all I’m saying.”
Hager also noted that this moment took place before Shelton was with Gwen Stefani. The celebrity power couple met as coaches on The Voice in 2014. They publicly confirmed their relationship the following year, announced their engagement in 2020, and got married in a stunning ceremony on Shelton’s Oklahoma ranch in July 2021.
Watch Shelton’s surprise appearance on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna here: