Will ‘Real Housewives’ Stars Kyle Richards Or Bethenny Frankel Replace Kathie Lee Gifford On ‘Today’?

Kathie Lee Gifford announced she was leaving her hosting gig on the Today show this week and right away, fans began wondering who will take her spot after her final show on April 7, 2019.

On December 11, People magazine listed a number of possible replacements for Gifford and on their list was a couple of Real Housewives stars, including longtime friends Kyle Richards and Bethenny Frankel.

As the outlet revealed, Hoda Kotb, Gifford’s current co-host, recently appeared on Watch What Happens Live where she was asked about which Real Housewives star she would like to take the co-host seat alongside her. In response, Kotb said that out of the Beverly Hills-based cast, she’d love to have Richards join her.

That said, Kotb has been friends with Frankel, who appears on The Real Housewives of New York City, for the past several years and Frankel has already made cameo appearances on Today.

Frankel is also much closer to where Today is filmed than her fellow Real Housewives star.

In addition to being close to Hotb and the NBC studios, Bethenny Frankel also has experience hosting a talk show. As fans will recall, Frankel hosted her self-titled Fox series for one season before the show was canceled in 2012.

While fans of the Real Housewives franchise would surely love to see either Kyle Richards or Bethenny Frankel selected as Katie Lee Gifford’s replacement, there are also plenty other more qualified contenders, including current Today co-hosts Dylan Dryer, Sheinelle Jones, Al Roker, and Jenna Bush Hager.

Currently, both Richards and Frankel are in production on the upcoming seasons of their shows, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 9 and The Real Housewives of New York City Season 11. So, when it comes to free time, it’s hard to say if either of them has any time to spare for a new show, especially considering they are both juggling their own careers with their Bravo reality shows.

As fans well know, Richards owns and operates a clothing boutique while Frankel has her own line of jeans, snacks, and meal bars.

Although Richards used to serve as the executive producer of American Woman, which aired on the Paramount Network, the series was not renewed for a second season and is not expected to return to television on a different network at this point in time.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is expected to air early next year on Bravo TV.