NewsBeat
Savannah Guthrie’s Olympics replacement announced as co-host cancels trip
Savannah Guthrie’s replacement for Olympics coverage has been announced as she focuses on finding her missing mother.
NBC revealed that her co-host, Craig Melvin, is also canceling his trip to Italy.
Veteran Olympics broadcaster Mary Carillo will replace Guthrie as co-host on Friday’s telecast of the opening ceremonies for the Winter Games after Guthrie was forced to pull out of the gig to help search for her mother.
Melvin was due to host late-night Olympics broadcasts early next week, and he’ll be replaced in that role by Ahmed Fareed, NBC announced.
An NBC Sports spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Independent, “Savannah will not be joining us at the Olympics as she focuses on being with her family during this difficult time. Our hearts are with her and the entire Guthrie family as the search continues for their mother.”
The mystery of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has cast a pall over what was anticipated to be a giant week for the television network.
Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Arizona home against her will.
The Olympics is among the few events to still draw consistent, big audiences to broadcast television. Other notable draws include the Super Bowl, which NBC is due to televise this weekend.
Savannah Guthrie had been scheduled to co-host the opening ceremony with Terry Gannon, but NBC said she was no longer traveling to Italy because of her mother’s disappearance.
Carillo is a familiar face to people who watch the Olympics — these will be her 17th Olympic Games — and she will co-host with Gannon.
Carillo lived in Milan for two years as a child, NBC said. She has hosted closing ceremonies at three Olympic games — in Salt Lake City in 2002, Beijing in 2008 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
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NBC News has aggressively covered the story of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but it hasn’t been alone. It was the lead story of ABC’s World News Tonight on Tuesday, too.