This Star Almost Replaced Elisabeth Hasselbeck on "The View"
"I think they were going for something different."
When Elisabeth Hasselbeck left The View in 2013, producers immediately set out to find her replacement. While Jenny McCarthy eventually earned the coveted gig, another big-name celebrity almost got her spot on The View. Before the seat at the table was eventually given to McCarthy, Brooke Shields had already auditioned by co-hosting a few episodes. Read on to find out why Shields thinks she didn't get the job and why McCarthy thinks she's the lucky one. And for a guest who probably won't be welcomed back, check out Whoopi Goldberg Says This Guest Called The View Hosts an Awful Name.
McCarthy and Shields were competing over the spot that Elizabeth Hasselbeck left vacant.
While appearing on Watch What Happens Live in September of 2019, actor Brooke Shields revealed that she almost joined the cast of The View permanently after guest co-hosting for a week. And she was actively campaigning for the job.
"I did all my homework, I take everything very seriously," Shields said. "And then they called me one day, and I was directing at The Hollywood Bowl…and I'm in the parking lot, and I get a call from the producer and he said, 'Well we decided to go with Jenny McCarthy."
For a late-night hosting gig gone wrong, check out Maya Rudolph Says This SNL Host Made the Cast Want to Leave.
It wasn't awkward, even though the two women are friends.
Shields also noted to WWHL host Andy Cohen that McCarthy is "a friend." And while Shields didn't know the exact reason why she was picked over her, she guessed that it had something to do with the producers wanting a certain kind of personality.
"I think they were going for something different," Shields added.
For more on the talk show, This Was the Worst Guest The View Ever Had, Former Host Says.
In McCarthy's eyes, she "took one for the team" when she got the job.
When McCarthy appeared on WWHL a month after Shields addressed her near miss with The View, a caller asked McCarthy to respond to the actor's "snotty" comments. Neither Cohen nor McCarthy agreed with that characterization of the interview, with McCarthy adding, "I'm friends with her, I love her." She also said that she thought Shield dodged a bullet. McCarthy ended up leaving The View after just one year.
"I think she knows deep inside that I took one for the team," Because let's face it, that was h***, h***. So, you're welcome Brooke."
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McCarthy has been vocal about how much she disliked being on the show.
When Candace Cameron Bure was a guest on McCarthy's Sirius XM radio show in 2017, the women reflected on their respective experiences on The View. (Bure was a host from 2015 to 2016.) McCarthy said it was similar to dating, in that hosting "turned out not to be" what she had assumed it would.
She further explained she didn't like that she was encouraged to debate guests and her fellow hosts. "When I was there, I go 'I don't like to argue, I'm not confrontational,'" The Masked Singer panelist said.
"I'd rather listen, and really listen to someone else's point of view, and hear them," McCarthy continued. "And please hear mine, which I never really got the opportunity…They would sting you before you go on air. It's almost like getting ready for a gladiator fight, and I'm like, 'this is not how I want to start my morning.'"
Like McCarthy, Bure also didn't enjoy the confrontational nature of the show. "They were like…'if someone doesn't agree with you, you gotta go back,'" Bure explained. "And I was like, 'I don't like to argue. I just want to share.'"
For more SNL drama, check out Kenan Thompson Says This SNL Guest Made the Cast "Extremely Uncomfortable."
