With Alyssa Farah Griffin Off The Air, Joy Behar Talks Bringing Back Elisabeth Hasselbeck And Other Controversial View Hosts

The big news on The View this week had to do with Alyssa Farah Griffin, who made a not-so-unexpected exit to attend to the birth of her first child last week. While congratulations are due to the new mom, the even bigger news is the talk show bringing in big names like Savannah Chrisley and former host Elisabeth Hasselbeck to fill her shoes.

Savannah Chrisley has already issued a warning about refusing to “shrink her values” on the show when she appears, but apparently that’s not even what caused the most controversy amongst The View viewers. Instead, people are up in arms about Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s return. Executive producer Brian Teta spoke with Joy Behar about the “backlash” Hasselbeck’s name has been receiving online, and Behar seemed surprised by the discourse.

• Teta: "There was a lot of reaction to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, which surprised me a little bit, because she’s, don’t get me wrong, Elisabeth has controversial takes occasionally and passionate takes, but you two worked together and overall got along. "
• Behar: "It’s fine, she’s a good kid. She’s a good kid… she got a lot of negative things? "
• Teta: "Well, people are like, I can’t believe Elisabeth’s coming back."

Hasselbeck did have a lengthy run on The View in the past. She appeared on the show between 2003 and 2013 after her famous run on Survivor back in 2001. She married former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck in 2002 and made her TV debut a year later, where she did become known for her conservative viewpoints.

She left the series in 2013 in what she later admitted was actually a surprise firing by ABC. (Note: The move reportedly came after a meltdown in the middle of filmingThe View in which she’d threatened to quit and “chucked” her cards while the show was on commercial break.) She shifted to Fox & Friends for a couple of years after that before unofficially retiring from her TV career, though Survivor has really wanted her to play again.

So, her coming back may seem like a pretty big shock, even for fans who would be happy to see her on the long-running talk show. More recently, though, Farah Griffin said Hasselbeck telling her to “own [her] chair” during her run on The View really impacted her as a new host, and the two seem to be kindred spirits. Plus, she did make returns in 2019 and 2020 prior to this, so her coming back as a guest host is not that out of left field. This is true despite the drama from the past, and the fans who clearly are unhappy about her return.

Teta went on to explain on “Behind the Table” that some personalities on The View simply draw in controversy online. Hasselbeck is on that list, as is Rosie O’Donnell and Rosie Perez. But how does Joy Behar feel about the show filling Alysa Farah Griffin’s spot with other conservative personalities?

Ultimately, at the end of the day, she does feel like the discussion is better when alternative viewpoints are put forth, even if those viewpoints are being put forth by some people the certain factions of the fanbase clearly aren’t gelling with. But per Behar, there’s one piece of advice she’d like fans to keep in mind: “It’s just business, it’s not personal.”