A huge change is coming to Fox and Friends as long-time host Steve Doocy has announced he will be leaving the “curvy couch,” though he isn’t entirely exiting the long-running morning news program.
“Today is the last day I will host this show from the couch,” Doocy revealed on Thursday’s (May 1) show. “It’s a great job… but the hours suck. Ainsley [Earhardt] and I have talked about this for years, about how hard it is to dash back from wherever we are on the weekends to be live on this couch at 6 am on Monday. But we have to because the curvy couch is an important part of the show.”
With that, Doocy made the surprising announcement, saying, “After decades of getting up at 3:30 and driving into New York City in the dark, today is the last day I will host the show… from the couch.”
He made it clear he’s “not retiring” or “leaving the show,” adding, “I’m still a host —but it’s time for a change.”
The change will see Doocy working three days a week from Florida. “You may never see me in a necktie again,” he joked.
Fox and Friends will continue to be hosted by Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, and Lawrence Jones from its NYC studios, while Doocy will appear remotely, covering various assignments from Florida and surrounding states.
Doocy, who joined Fox News in 1996 and began co-hosting Fox and Friends from its inception in 1998, told Mediaite, “I’m going to do some live hits from Florida. But I’ll still travel some — you won’t know where I’m going to be. I’m going to be the coast-to-coast host. Not the couch host — the coast the coast host! Not having to be anchored to the NYC studios every day feels great, to be honest.”
Speaking on how he came to the decision, the veteran anchor explained, “It’s interesting, having done this for 30 years, you start thinking about how you’re going to find an off-ramp eventually. What that looks like or what it feels like — I’ve been thinking about this for a few years and how you do it.”
He said that he spoke with Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott about how to transition into the next stage of his career, revealing they’ve been going back and forth “for a year and a half.”
“We looked at what the next stage of my career with Fox News could look like, and we agreed on three days a week, and I got just what I wanted,” Doocy added. “I want to work, just not hosting the show in New York City every day, but I’m not retiring… I will still co-host. I’ll just enjoy a change of venue. It will be easier for me to do all the stuff I want to do.”
He concluded, “I get it’s the price of admission, and I have zero regrets, but I’ve done this now for almost 30 years. I’ve got such a routine. I’ve cracked the code on how to do this, I love the show, and ratings are great — I just want to make a transition to the next stage of my personal life.”
You can watch Doocy’s announcement in the video above and let us know your thoughts below.
Fox & Friends, Weekdays, 6am/5c, Fox News
Read the original article here