Taylor Twellman kicked off his week by taking on a new hosting role.
The Apple TV Major League Soccer lead match analyst guest-hosted the third hour of Today on Monday, July 20, alongside Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer. Twellman filled in for Craig Melvin, who began his week off to enjoy summer vacation with his family.
“Craig is on vacation, but we decided we needed a really special guest host,” Roker said at the top of the show. Thanking Roker, Twellman stated, “This is fun. This is gonna be good.”
The former U.S. Men’s soccer player began the show by using his sports expertise to weigh in on the FIFA World Cup Final, which saw Spain beat Argentina 1-0. Noting that “the best team won,” Twellman criticized Argentina players for not doing press after their loss.
“Spain beat you. They were the better team. [Lionel] Messi even said it with his message after the game, saying, ‘Quite honestly, they were the better team,'” he said. “But to start a brawl, to then start fights afterwards, [you] missed me with that. That’s a difficult one for me to comprehend.”
Twellman went on to help Roker and Dreyer host segments about summer health, travel deals, and science experiments, and the popularity of micodramas. The hosts also cracked up while interviewing the cast of the new Netflix film 72 Hours, including Kevin Hart, Marcello Hernández, Kam Patterson, and Ben Marshall.
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Twellman took to Instagram after the episode to share his appreciation for the hosting gig and post fun behind-the-scenes photos. “What a fun day @todayshow Everyone is so fun and happy!!!” he captioned the snaps.
Fans reacted to Twellman’s guest-hosting role in the post’s comments. “NBC better start drafting that contract!” one person wrote. Another added, “Dude should have his own national morning or night show, been saying this over 5 years now. So good!!” Someone else shared, “I would definitely watch more Taylor! He rocked it and fit right in!”
A different person posted, “You were great on the show today man! Bring him back today!” A separate commenter stated, “Great chemistry all!!” In a comment of her own, Dreyer asked, “Do it again tomorrow??” Twellman replied, “Yes!!!!!”
Twellman was announced to be filling in for Melvin last week. He returned to Studio 1A again on Tuesday, July 21, to once again step in for Melvin.
Melvin’s absence also comes less than a week after an intruder found their way backstage at Today. Per TMZ, the suspect was allegedly searching for Roker, but lunged at Melvin and used a racial slur upon crossing paths with him.
The suspect, identified as 41-year-old Andrew Truelove, now faces a count of menacing in the third degree as a hate crime and a count of burglary in the third degree as a hate crime, per NBC News.
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