Ex-Host of ‘The View’ Michelle Collins Opens Up About Challenges on the Show: "I Find It Ugly"

Michelle Collins, a comedian who co-hosted one season of The View back in 2015, recently dropped a bombshell revelation about her time on the famous ABC talk show. In a discussion on the Las Culturistas podcast with Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang and recent The View guest Matt Rogers, Collins confessed that her experience on the show was far from enjoyable, claiming it as a source of 'light PTSD'.

Collins remarked, "I have bitten my tongue about a lot of the things that went on there, I think partially due to light PTSD, and just also being raised in a family home where we took the high road. I find it ugly. Frankly, it took me a long time to kind of come to terms with the fact that it was, and still is, the biggest thing I've ever done, and allowed me the opportunity to gain fans. I can't spit where I came from. But, I'll add that it does frustrate me a hair that I have behaved so well and then this show has absolutely never invited me back, they have a podcast, they never asked me back," as reported by The Sun.

As per Entertainment Weekly, one prominent incident Collins highlighted was when The View contacted her to film a segment for its 25th-anniversary episode. She accepted the offer and filmed the segment in front of the Eiffel Tower. However, to her surprise, when the episode aired, Collins felt that her appearance was downplayed, with her image reduced to a tiny pixel square on the screen. Reflecting on this experience, Collins expressed a mix of resignation and defiance. She added, "The premiere comes out and I swear they put me in, what's the tiniest three-by-three-pixel square on an HD TV? You couldn't see. It looked like I was in Schenectady." 

She asserted, "I wasn't bitter about it because, like, what are they going to do? Feature me? I was on the show for like, six months. So, fine. But then that whole season I thought, you know what? it's s----y, and I'll say it, it isn't nice. It's like, listen, I exist, and I've played the game, but now I guess I don't have to anymore, so that's exciting." Despite past grievances, Collins revealed that she would 'happily go back' if an opportunity surfaces.

The discussion also touched on broader issues within the show, such as the dynamics among co-hosts and the show’s handling of conflicts and controversies. Collins also shared about the time when she felt that she was hazed by her co-hosts. She revealed, "When they rushed me, the hazing was brutal— but I made it through. I mean, listen, I went to a women’s college, Barnard College. And, it only makes sense that I ended up on The View. That’s sort of like, it’s graduate school from Barnard, basically. So, I see that very much. And, it’s all good energy and everything else."