Craig Melvin Panics Over Hoda Kotb Run-In After Today Exit: ‘I Thought She Wanted It All Back’

Even five months into his time as a co-anchor on Today, Craig Melvin is watching his back. 

The 46-year-old journalist took over Hoda Kotb’s news desk seat in January after Kotb made the decision to leave the Today show in favor of getting in more time with her daughters Haley, 8, and Hope, 6. 

“I saw Hoda yesterday and she was up on the fifth floor and she was getting ready to tape one of her podcasts and she came through the door,” Melvin shared on Today on June 11. “And I was like, ‘Uh-oh.’” 

Why was Melvin worried? The father of two admitted of Kotb, “I thought she wanted it all back.”

In response to his concern, Melvin’s co-anchors reassured him that he has nothing to worry about.

Melvin’s co-anchors Carson Daly, Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager and Al Roker quickly reassured him that Kotb wasn’t going to come back and take his new job. 

“I think somebody needs a hug,” Roker quipped, standing up and embracing Melvin. “You’re good enough, and dog gone it, you’re likable.”

Guthrie, who shares the news desk with Melvin, added, “You’re the one we want. It’s yours now, whether you like it or not.”

“No, I love it,” Melvin said, before jokingly adding, “most days.”

Daly had a bold suggestion, telling Melvin, “You should put it in your next contract that you get to keep all your clothes and that Hoda’s not allowed in the building anymore.”

But Melvin quickly replied, “No, no!” 

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Melvin previously told PEOPLE about how he felt stepping into the new role.

Ahead of taking over the role in January, Melvin admitted to PEOPLE that he was nervous yet excited. 

“I’m anxious but at the same time, it’s the first time I’ve been this excited about anything outside the day I got married and the birth of my two children,” Melvin previously told PEOPLE. “I am beyond stoked.”

Kotb told PEOPLE of Melvin, “He is the natural perfect person. I told him, ‘There’s nothing to be worried about. You have all the things that you need.’ ”

Kotb has been candid about her decision to leave her longtime role.

Last month, Kotb opened up to PEOPLE about her difficult decision to leave the NBC morning show after 17 years. 

“It’s really cool to just realize that there’s so much more to life,” she said. “I wasn’t able to bear witness to my kids’ daily lives because of what I was doing. I got to see Haley sing ‘What a Wonderful World’ at 9:15 a.m. — I would have missed that. I used to think life was the big things, but it really is all the stuff that happens in between.” 

Kotb has also been grappling with her daughter Hope’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis, an autoimmune disease that prevents the pancreas from making its own insulin, requiring vigilant blood sugar monitoring and frequent insulin injections.

“It’s kind of constant care for Hope. We’re monitoring her 24/7,” she said, calling her daughter a “trooper” for having had to deal with the unpleasant realities of treatment.