Kathie Lee Gifford Jokes She'd Do The Golden Bachelorette Only If the Men Were 'Much Younger'

Kathie Lee Gifford could be convinced to be the next Golden Bachelor … on one condition.

On Tuesday in the episode Today with Hoda and Jenna, co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager apologized for causing a stir when they suggested Kathie Lee, 70, would be the perfect star for the ABC reality show. However, they also stuck to their previous comments.

“Kathie, we want to apologize for the drama around us The Golden Bachelorbut we stand behind the fact that we think you’d be the best Golden Bachelor ever,” Bush Hager, 42, told the former chat show host, who was on hand to promote her new Prime Video series The Baxters with daughter Cassidy Gifford.

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Kotb, 59, agreed, adding that Kathie Lee would be “really good,” because she’s unlikely to “suck her face in a hot tub.” The Today The host added that her friend would “keep all those men away, and you would make them romance you.”

“Deserve me, baby!” Kathie Lee joked, and Kotb added, “You’d bring romance back and that’s what we need!”

Kathie Lee Gifford 2018

Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Kathie Lee teased that she will have a few conditions if she steps into the Golden Girl’s shoes. – It would have to be completely different – said the actress. “We would have to make them [the men] much younger.”

“Golden cougar!” Bush Hager joked.

During the interview, Kathie Lee suggested that she spoke with The Golden Bachelorproducers about possibly doing a series, although there was no offer – much to her daughter’s relief.

Her daughter Cassidy, 30, chided the co-hosts for encouraging her mom. “You guys aren’t helping my case,” she said.

However, according to Kathie Lee, her son Cody Gifford is all for his mom looking for love on TV. “Cody wants me to do it, but he doesn’t want me to do it,” she told Kotb and Bush Hager.

This is not the first time the ex Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee the host discussed the possibility of joining Bachelor franchise. During a recent interview with Fox News, she said that while Kotb pitched her to the series, she couldn’t imagine doing it unless she was offered a “very different” season. Namely, the one without hot tubs.

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“Here’s the thing. You know what you get when you get in a hot tub? Diseases, diseases,” Gifford said. “And you know what happens when you start kissing people you have no idea where their lips have been? It’s just stupid. So, until you trust someone…they don’t give you much time before they want you in the hot tub.”

She added, “I talked to the producers about it, and they said, ‘We realized it would be a different kind of show if you did that.’ I said, ‘Uhhh yes!’ So I don’t see that happening.”

Kathie Lee was married to former NFL player Frank Gifford for 29 years. Frank died in 2015 at the age of 84.

The Today show alum has since dated, but told PEOPLE in 2022 that she prefers to keep her private life out of the spotlight whenever possible. “I have someone very special in my life,” she said at the time. However, she added, “I’ve found that if I don’t talk about it, it stays special.”

Theresa Nist (L) and Gerry Turner (R) at The Golden Bachelor.

ABC/Craig Sjodin

In February, ABC confirmed this The Golden Bachelor — spinoff hit series, The Golden Bachelor — is in the works, and the premiere of the first season is scheduled for autumn. The network has yet to reveal the woman who will be the first Golden Bachelor. However, if the show follows in the footsteps of the original franchise, it’s possible that one of the women who fought for Gerry Turner’s heart before he married Theresa Nist will earn the title.

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The Baxters premieres March 28 on Prime Video. Today with Hoda and Jenna airs weekday mornings on NBC (check local listings).

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Source: HIS Education