Today show co-anchor Craig Melvin has grown increasingly frustrated with his role on the NBC morning program, telling colleagues he believes he is putting in longer hours than co-star Savannah Guthrie while being paid less, Our News Outlet can reveal.
Melvin, 47, who last year stepped into the co-anchor seat alongside 54-year-old Guthrie, is said to be unhappy that he is expected to remain on air for the 9am hour after his co-host departs. According to insiders, he has made it clear he no longer wants to front a slot he feels is not treated as a priority at NBC.
‘The third hour is a joke,’ a well-placed source told Our News Outlet.
‘Everybody inside the building knows it. They laugh about it. Nobody is walking around saying, wow, what an important hour of television.’
By the time Melvin sits down for the later segment, the source claimed, the major bookings have already wrapped and much of the morning audience has begun to tune out.
‘Let’s be honest, the third hour is the leftovers,’ the source added.
‘The stars have done their morning. The important interviews are over. The audience has moved on.
‘Craig is being asked to keep the party going after everyone else has gone home.’
Craig Melvin, pictured last week, took the co-anchor chair alongside Savannah Guthrie early last year, but has grown frustrated at having to stay on for the third hour after his co-host leaves, insiders tell Our News Outlet
Network sources say Craig wants his schedule and paycheck to reflect the equal status NBC gives the two co-anchors
But what rankles most is the network’s unequal treatment of the two anchors.
‘Craig and Savannah are supposed to be equals. They’re partners, co-hosts and two of the faces of Today,’ another insider said.
‘So Craig looks at the schedule and thinks, “Why am I the one who has to stay?”
‘Guthrie is allowed to finish her morning and leave, with Melvin continuing to work.’
But despite his complaints over money, he doesn’t ‘begrudge’ his co-star, sources say.
‘He wants NBC to treat him like the equal they say he is,’ they added.
‘Craig is doing more work and making less money than Savannah. That makes the third hour even harder to swallow.’
Another insider put it more bluntly: ‘More television. Less money. Craig is asking why that is supposed to be a great deal.’
Melvin is said to be under no illusions about how the hour is regarded inside the building.
Melvin, insiders claim, believes he’s being asked to do ‘more television’ for ‘less money’ and now wants out of the third hour
Melvin, 47, has worked his way up to become one of NBC’s most prominent television personalities since 2018
‘He doesn’t think the third hour is where his career should be,’ the source said.
‘He has worked too hard to become a major television personality to be treated like the guy who stays behind after the real show is finished.’
If the third hour is a punchline, the fourth is considered worse.
‘The joke is that the third hour only looks good because the fourth hour exists,’ the insider said. ‘That’s how low the bar is.’
His position has hardened into something simple: if NBC calls him and Guthrie equals, the schedule and the paycheck should say so.
‘Craig will work hard,’ the source said. ‘That has never been the issue.
‘He just doesn’t want to work harder for less money on an hour everybody knows is a punchline.’
‘He doesn’t want Savannah’s job. He wants the same respect,’ the insider added.
Savannah is still grappling with the disappearance of her mom Nancy Guthrie, who was kidnapped from her Arizona home on January 31 and is yet to be found
Guthrie, pictured on set on April 6, stepped away from the Today desk for the first several months amid the search for her mother, but returned to her post in April
‘If she gets to walk away when the real Today ends, Craig wants to walk away too.’
Melvin is reportedly considering walking away from the third hour for good and is ‘done pretending this is some great opportunity.’
‘He wants out,’ the source added. NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Our News Outlet. .
Melvin joined Today in 2018 and took the co-anchor chair in January 2025 after Hoda Kotb, 62, stepped back from the show to spend more time with her family.
The Daily Mail revealed in March that Melvin had been left devastated after being passed over to interview Guthrie about her mother Nancy, 84, who was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on February 1.
Hoda Kotb was chosen for the interview instead, remaining a regular presence on the show since stepping back.
She returned to the anchor desk in February to cover for Guthrie during the search for her mother, filled in again through March, and was back in April standing in for Melvin himself while he was away with his family.
When she first announced she was leaving in 2024, Melvin was so taken aback that he asked her on air whether she was being forced out.
The Daily Mail reached out to NBC and Melvin’s rep for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
