Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin had a code sentence for his new concert today

Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin had a secret code phrase to refer to him replacing her prior to the official announcement on Today.

Melvin, 45, said New York Times in an interview published Thursday, Nov. 14, that he found out he was replacing Kotb, 60, on the NBC show’s first hour several weeks ago. However, NBC News executives decided to share the news publicly on Thursday.

Kotb told the outlet that she and Melvin used the catchphrase “Let’s Go Mets” since many of their colleagues were not yet aware of the decision. Kotb explained that they came up with the idea during “the height of Mets mania” and would use it on many occasions.

“It was funny to see his face,” she recalled about when she would say the phrase to Melvin. “He looked like a kid at Christmas who got what he wanted.”

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Hoda Kotb gave fans a big update ahead of her upcoming departure today. The 60-year-old TV personality will officially leave the NBC morning show on Jan. 10, 2025. “It’s going to be our party day. So we’re going to have a party,” she shared on the episode Thursday, Nov. 14. Savannah Guthrie added that the entire (.. .)

Melvin was announced Thursday as Kotb’s replacement in the first hour of Today. Coanker Savannah Guthrie said the show’s staff learned of the decision that morning and “burst into applause.”

Melvin stated that he is “thrilled and grateful” to receive the opportunity, adding, “Obviously, I want to thank NBC and the people here who deemed me worthy. … I’ve enjoyed a lifetime of nothing but blessings, and this is the latest in a long line of blessings.”

Kotb, for his part, told him he was “made for this job.” She added: “You’re that good. You have all the things that this job needs. You’re the right person for it.”

Gushing about Kotb and his co-hosts being his “sisters,” Melvin added, “(Hoda), you’ve been the heart of this place for a long time. You helped save this show. … I’ll try not to screw up for that!”

Related: ‘Today’ show hosts react to Hoda Kotb’s surprise exit

The news of Hoda Kotb’s Today show exit is bittersweet for her co-hosts. “I just turned 60, and it was such a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What does it want for me ?” Kotb, (…)

Melvin, who shares sons Delano, 10, and Sybil, 8, with his wife Lindsay Czarniakjoined in Today in 2018 as news anchor on the show’s first and second hours. He also holds the third class next door Al Roker, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer – which he will continue to do.

His new role was announced months after Kotb said she was leaving the show after more than three decades at NBC. (Kotb who joined Today in 2007, has co-anchored with Guthrie since 2018.)

“I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60 and try something new. It’s the right time for me to move on,” Kotb explained at the time, adding that her daughters — Haley, 7, and Hope, 5 — were the motivation behind her decision.