Kellie Pickler, 'Today' Show Co-Hosting Gig Has Singer Filling Kathie Lee's Red High Heels

Posted Mar 21st 2012 2:35PM by Stephen L. Betts
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Kellie Pickler will co-host NBC's 'Today Show' this Friday morning (March 23). The singer sits in with regular fourth-hour co-host Hoda Kotb, while Kathie Lee Gifford is on vacation. Kellie follows this week's other country-music co-hosts Josh Turner, Lee Brice and Randy Travis, who filled in on Monday through Wednesday morning, respectvely. John Rich will take the co-host chair Thursday.

What's on tap for Kellie during the co-hosting gig is anyone's guess but considering her latest album is titled '100 Proof,' she should fit right in, since the show's regular co-hosts have a reputation for doing a lot of wine drinking during the morning show.

The 'Red High Heels' singer is sure to feel right at home on the 'Today' set no matter what transpires. Since her fifth season stint on 'American Idol' in 2006, during which she won over viewers with her homespun charm (especially after confessing her unfamiliarity with calamari), the North Carolina native quickly hit the charts and the talk-show circuit.

Kellie has made several appearances on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show,' for instance, and this past January regaled the host with the hilarious tale of the noisy frogs she and her husband, songwriter Kyle Jacobs encountered on their one-year-anniversary trip to St. Lucia.

"Ellen's so great, she's so wonderful," the singer-songwriter tells The Boot. "She is by far the best television show, talk show, any show like that that we've done. She's the best on camera and off camera. She really is. She's one of those people who when she says something, she means it. She's really sincere. She really cares."

As long as Hoda doesn't get wind of the above quote, Kellie's appearance on the fourth-hour segment of the 'Today Show' will air on most NBC stations beginning at 10:00 AM ET on Friday (March 23).

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