Elisabeth Hasselbeck made another return to The View last week, serving as one of the guest hosts while Alyssa Farah Griffin is on maternity leave. Hasselbeck has a pretty complicated history with The View — and this appearance only added to it — but it turns out she was way more enthusiastic about facing potentially opposing political views on daytime TV than the thought of re-exposing herself to the elements and strategies of Survivor 50.
Following her return to the table on the most recent week of The View episodes to air on the 2026 TV schedule, Elisabeth Hasselbeck reflected on her experience. While there was some backlash regarding her comeback, as well as proverbial shots fired by Megyn Kelly, a fellow former Fox News anchor, Hasselbeck told the Behind the Table podcast:
I have felt welcome every time I’ve come. But to come for a week, I felt like, ‘Oh, I could really settle in.’ The [View] staff is amazing. This production staff, down to the tech, sound, camera, security team, it’s really like a place of greatness.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck has come back to The View before, despite being fired from show after 10 years following a backstage meltdown in which she raged against Barbara Walters. However, having the opportunity to come back for a full week of episodes apparently allowed her to get comfortable as she offered a rare conservative perspective on today’s hot-button issues. Having time to get back into the groove was important, as Hasselbeck explained:
Article continues belowIt’s not easy to do the show well, because you’re talking about the hardest things all the time, and then you have to come back and do it again. So I think to create an environment where everyone feels valued, loves coming to the office and is still here says a lot.
Even Whoopi Goldberg, who’s been on The View for 19 years, has a strategy for staying fired up while cameras are running and then letting everything go until the next day, but to Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s point, I think some former co-hosts did leave The View because it was hard and in some cases they didn’t feel valued.
As far as comebacks go, though, The View wasn’t the only show Elisabeth Hasselbeck had the opportunity to return to this year. The former co-host reportedly turned down an offer to join the Survivor 50 cast, which features returning players. Hasselbeck competed on Survivor Season 2 (as Elisabeth Filarski), and she joked:
Everyone’s like, ‘Are you going back to Survivor?’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m going back to The View for a week. That is way more intense!’
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, indeed.
That week has come and gone, and while she didn’t take home a $1 million Sole Survivor prize, she did in fact survive her return to the table. This week’s slate of episodes will feature Sheryl Underwood sitting in Alyssa Farah Griffin’s chair, and tune in to see what other (sometimes-controversial) guest hosts ABC has rounded up in her absence.
The View airs at 11 a.m. ET weekdays on ABC and can be streamed the next day with a Hulu subscription.
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