Hoda Kotb has revealed she wants Jenna Bush Hager to set her up on a date eight months after she split from former fiancé Joel Schiffman.
The 58-year-old Today co-host opened up about the challenges of modern dating on Monday’s show when she pointed out that her co-host is “really good at bringing people together”.
The nudge was all it took for Bush Hager, 40, to admit she’d love to play matchmaker with Kotb – and to her surprise, she was open to the idea.
“I want to be tricked,” said Kotb.
Hoda Kotb, 58, has revealed she’s willing to set up a date with Jenna Bush Hager, 40
Today presenters discussed the challenges of modern dating on Monday’s show, as Bush Hager admitted she wants to be matchmaker for Kotb
‘What?’ asked Bush Hager in shock.
“I want to be tricked,” confirmed Kotb.
‘I have the chills!’ replied the former first daughter. “It’s a challenge I’ll take on.”
Kotb noted that she wouldn’t take anyone out on a date, but she’s comfortable with Bush Hager taking the reins.
‘You know why? It’s because you know me and I trust you,’ she said. “If you don’t know me, even if we drop anchor and pretend I don’t say yes, but you know me.”
‘I have a lot to do. I have to go,” joked Bush Hager.
Kotb and her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman, had been together for eight years and engaged for two when she announced their split on the Today show in late January
Kotb agreed to let her pal set her up on a date after they chatted about the differences between meeting someone on an app and going on a blind date.
The mother-of-two explained she’d probably be more open to someone she met through a friend than a stranger she could easily get rid of right away.
“I understand the philosophy behind it, because if you go on a date on an app, if you’re 10 minutes past the date, you don’t like it. You can just finish it in your head. The lights are going out,’ she said.
“If you’re dating someone who has the same vibes but your boyfriend has set you up, you could say, ‘Maybe there’s a reason she thought this guy was good. just let me be curious Make me ask more questions, don’t just shut down and say, ‘Well, that’s it.'”‘
Bush Hager, who has been married to her husband Henry Hager for 14 years, added that she thinks it’s important to keep an open mind in both situations.
Kotb stunned Bush Hager when she told her, “I want to be screwed.”
Kotb noted that she wouldn’t take anyone out on a date, but she’s comfortable with Bush Hager taking the reins
“It’s because you know me and I trust you,” Kotb told her co-host, who couldn’t wait to take on the challenge
“I think openness is key no matter how you meet. If you are open and meet via an app, great. If you’re open and meet through friends, great,” she said. “If you walk in and you’re like, ‘Ugh, I’ve done so many of these and it doesn’t feel right on paper,’ it’s not going to happen.
“Also, don’t bounce someone because they remind you of your ex or someone else,” Kotb added. ‘Because that’s different. Sometimes you look at someone and you’re like, “Ugh, [you did this] just like he did.’
Kotb and Schiffman had been together for eight years and engaged for two years when she announced their split on the Today Show in late January. They are now raising their adopted daughters Haley, five, and Hope, three, together.
“He’s a great dad — but I also know I’m on the right path,” she told People last month about their split.
And it seems like Kotb is putting her love life in the right hands, as her co-host has reached for the stars when it comes to matchmaking in the past.
Kotb co-parents her adopted daughters with Schiffman after their split
Kotb recently took her daughters to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to meet her mom, Sameha, and sister, Hala, marking her first solo journey as a single mom
In 2019, Bush Hager recalled her failed attempt to set up her twin sister, Barbara Bush, with Prince Harry just two months before he met Meghan Markle on a blind date.
She interviewed the once-eligible bachelor at his Invictus Games in Orlando, Fla. in May 2016 when she asked him about his love life.
“Does it make you laugh that people are already asking you about kids? I mean, it’s kind of a leap forward a few steps,” she said, prompting the king to admit he didn’t even have a girlfriend at the time.
Seeing an opportunity to move her, Bush Hager suggested, not quite so subtly, that he should date Barbara, saying, “I have a single sister and she feels the same way. Listen, she’s available!’
“We might be able to talk off air,” Prince Harry replied.
Bush Hager has a record of matchmaking, including a failed attempt to match her twin sister Barbara Bush with Prince Harry during an interview in 2016
The Today star believes their matchmaking attempt might have been more successful if they hadn’t been wearing sunglasses and she’d been able to make eye contact with him
“Okay, I’ll give you her number,” the Today star told him, adding, “She’s going to kill me.”
Bush Hager thinks her attempt to get them together might have been more successful if her sunglasses hadn’t prevented her from making better eye contact with him during her interview.
Just a few months later, Prince Harry went on a blind date with Meghan in London in 2016. They are now parents to a son, Archie, three, and a daughter, Lilibet, one, after tying the knot in May 2018.
Barbara didn’t stay single for long either.
She found her own Prince Charming, screenwriter Craig Coyne, whom she married in October 2018 – five months after the royal wedding. They welcomed their one-year-old daughter Cora Georgia in September 2021.