“The View” announced Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro as co-hosts on the panel.
Live on the Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show, the two Republicans were welcomed as co-hosts. They join moderator Whoopi Goldberg, and co-hosts Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines.
After making 29 appearances throughout Season 25, Farah Griffin will fill the conservative seat at the Hot Topics table. The communications strategist served as the top spokesperson for the president, vice president and secretary of defense from 2017-2020, making her the only person ever to hold each of these positions. She’s also the recipient of the Secretary of Homeland Security’s Award for Distinguished Public Service and serves on the board of the American Conservation Coalition.
“I couldn’t be more honored and thrilled to join the ladies of ‘The View,’” Farah Griffin told ABC News. “The show paved the way for women speaking up and speaking out on TV.”
“At a time when our country is so divided, often on partisan lines, I’m honored to represent the conservative perspective,” she continued. “I hope to model what is too often lost by our elected leaders: learning from others, disagreeing respectfully, and focusing on finding real solutions for our country.”
Following the on-air announcement of her new seat at the Hot Topics table, Farah Griffin shared her thoughts on the role.
“If anyone had ever told me I’d be sitting at a table with Whoopi Goldberg, I would have said, ‘You are crazy.’ It is such an honor to be with you ladies every day on this set, and it’s particularly exciting for me today,” Farah Griffin said on “The View” Thursday. “I was trying to come up with the word to describe how I feel about this, and ‘honored’ is all that comes to mind.”
She went on to explain how the last few years of her life had “been a bit turbulent” for her. “I worked for an administration that I ended up speaking out against fervently and continue to daily. That changes a lot in your life. I lost a lot of friends. I’m estranged from family members, but I have to say this, I am so proud to have found my voice. I was, you know, a president’s spokesperson, I was a vice president’s spokesperson, I was way too many Republican men’s of Congress spokesperson, but now it is my voice.”
“Listen, it’s going to get sporty sometimes, but I adore you women,” she continued. “Thank you ladies, and thank you to the whole ‘View’ team. I’m so excited.”
Navarro is officially a co-host after joining the show in 2015 for Season 19 as a contributor and making recurring appearances on the panel since November 2018 as a guest co-host. A political strategist, she is a Republican commentator with expertise on Latin America, Florida and Hispanic issues.
While the show is based in New York City, Navarro will continue to commute from her home in Coral Gables, Florida, where she lives with her husband, Al Cardenas, and their miniature poodle, Chacha.
“’The View’ is an institution and incomparable platform for women of different backgrounds to share their opinions and insights. It’s been a long courtship, but we’re finally making it official,” Navarro told ABC News. “I love being on the show, and I love living in Miami. I’m happy I will be able to do both. Thank you to ABC News, ‘The View’ family and our loyal viewers for their continued support.”
After the official announcement of her seat at the Hot Topics table, Navarro shared her thanks with viewers and ABC.
“After many years, many hair styles, many pounds up and down, and appearances as a guest, a contributor, Snow White, a guest co-host, we’re finally putting a ring on it and making it official,” she said on Thursdays show. “I want to thank the very loyal ‘View’ fans. I’ve read you. I’ve heard you. I’ve seen you.”
“This is not the right time for me or for the show to make it full-time. I have other work commitments. I have a life. I have a husband in Miami who I thank for understanding my absences. I have a very clingy dog. I have all these things I love in Miami. Leaving all that behind every week is tough, but I also love, love, love doing this show, and I want to thank ABC, especially Brian Teta and Kim Godwin and her team, “she continued.
“Most weeks I’m on a plane at least four times a week, and I spend countless hours on plans, at airports, in hotels. Sometimes it gets lonely, but I also know it’s a huge, enormous, incomparable privilege to be part of a 25-year institution, and whether people like it or not, whether some people acknowledge it or not, it is the relevance and the importance and the platform that ‘The View’ represents,” Navarro said.
“We at this table have spent a lot of time — a lot of time — talking about representation and saying representation matters, and that means that when a little Latina immigrant girl born in Chinandega, Nicaragua, who came to this country at the age of eight as a political refugee and found her home here gets the opportunity and the chance to have a platform, you grab it with both hands, and you run with it,” she added.
News of a co-host being announced on Thursday was shared with the public, but viewers were surprised by the added announcement that named a second co-host. The panel will now consist of six seats.
Executive producer Brian Teta spoke on the decision to ABC News.
”We promised to take a little time to fill the seat and we have found the right match and a welcome addition to the show with Alyssa,” Teta said. “She is willing to share her unique political experience and brings a strong conservative perspective while holding her own de ella in tough debates with her co-hosts and guests on both sides of the aisle.”
“Ana has made an indelible impact on ‘The View’ since the first time she joined us at the table,” Teta continued. “She is a strong independent thinker with savvy insight, not to mention that she is whip-smart and fiercely funny. We are very happy to officially welcome her as a co-host.”
”The View”’s original podcast series “Behind the Table” is available for free on major listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, TuneIn, Audacy and the ABC News app.