TODAY show correspondent Maggie Vespa could be saying ‘Oh, fudge’ after almost poisoning herself with an iconic item from the classic film A Christmas Story.
As part of her report, the NBC journalist recreated a scene from the film in which Ralphie is punished by having his mouth washed out with soap.
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Maggie reported live from the steps of the actual Cleveland home where the movie was shot.
The property has since been turned into a museum honoring the 1983 launch, with a gift shop selling replicas of the Lifebuoy soap that Ralphie nearly drowned on.
In her report, Maggie reconstructed the sceneputting one of the soaps in his own mouth.
You could see the teeth marks where he ground her.
The hosts of the morning show could hardly believe it.
“Was it real soap?” Hoda Kotb asked the brave reporter. “Did you really sink your teeth into it?”
Maggie admitted she did and immediately regretted it.
“It’s real soap,” she replied. “It’s disgusting and I may have poisoned myself.”
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As the hosts languished, Hoda shouted: “Good for you girl, you’ve gone all the way.”
Fill-in host Jacob Soboroff offered, “Respect! I greet you.”
SUBSTITUTES
“Fill-in hosts” appear to be a growing pattern at the popular morning show, where four replacement anchors were needed for the Monday show alone.
On Monday, Al Roker continued to be absent from the Today show as he recovers from blood clots in his legs and lungs.
Apart from the 68-year-old meteorologists, Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones and Carson Daly were also absent.
While it was not revealed why the trio did not attend the show on Monday, Carson’s absence is likely related to his commitments as host of The Voice.
The singing show, which films in California and airs Mondays and Tuesdays, recently began airing live episodes, while Today airs live from New York each morning.
With shows on opposite sides of the country, it’s impossible for Carson to do both shows on the same day.
Carson began taking time off from Today for a few days each week earlier this month when the competition series began its live broadcasts.
Jacob filled in for the host then and did so again amid Carson’s absence on Monday.
The 39-year-old NBC personality took Carson’s place in reporting pop culture news during the show’s Pop Start segment.
A day later, Savannah Guthrie suddenly disappeared from the newsroom.
Savannah’s absence comes after she spent the entire Thanksgiving week reporting on the holiday festivities.
While the others are in and out of the show, Al has been missing for several weeks.
AILING AL
Al recently made a post on Instagram confirming that he was in the hospital to receive treatment for blood clots.
“Last week, I was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot in my leg that sent some clots into my lungs,” he wrote.
However, he revealed on Thanksgiving that he had been released from the hospital.
“This is my version of the Thanksgiving parade. I’m getting ready to leave the hospital… Time to blow up this taco stand,” Al said in an Instagram video as he was seen leaving the hospital.
Also on Thanksgiving, he posted a photo of himself watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from home.
He seemed happy and captioned the post: “Back home in time to catch a bit of the #macythanksgivingday Missing Thanksgiving parade with @savannahguthrie and @hodakotb.”
Later that same day, the host posted photos of his family and wrote, “So #thankful to be home for #thanksgiving dinner with #family.”
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