Sam Champion, Al Roker Join Forces, Talk Friendship on Today Show
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Let the rain pour: longtime morning show meteorologist-rivals Al Roker and Sam Champion are finally standing under the same umbrella! The former Good Morning America weatherman stopped by the Today Show on Thursday, Jan. 16 and was greeted with hugs, not jeers, from Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Natalie Morales, and Roker in Studio 1A.
Champion, 52, abruptly left GMA, the Today show’s arch morning show nemesis, last month for a new gig at The Weather Channel — which is partially-owned by NBC Universal. The former ABC employee, who even enthusiastically flashed his brand new NBC identification card, sat with the quartet to discuss his new 3-hour morning weather show, which has yet to be named.
Along with the Weather Channel program, Champion will appear on the Today show in emergency weather situations.
“We’ve known each other for 25 years,” said Today show veteran Roker. “This is the first chance we’re actually going to get to work together.” In an odd revelation of a bromance between the two former onscreen rivals, Champion responded, “You were the first person and my first friend in New York.”
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The weathermen met when they were both covering, of all things, a circus event shortly after Champion first landed in NYC in the 1980s. “Al came up and we made friends during that live show,” he said Thursday.
“Can I just say that having Al and Sam at the same table, I would call this a weather forecaster vortex,” joked Guthrie. “Welcome to the team,” added Lauer.
The ABC News alum said farewell to his GMA costars, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Lara Spencer, and Josh Elliott, in early December during an emotional sendoff that remembered his 25 years and 1,800-plus broadcasts with the network. “This will always be my home,” Champion said to his colleagues in a montage of clips that were shown during the episode.ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tr%2FMmp6aspmjsm%2BvzqZmnqakmr%2B1rcinpJ6mpGS7psPSaKqapV2YtaK5z6Kmp2WkpLGixYysn6ivXZa5br7OpJyrZZantqa6w6yfoqhdq7alsc5maWlpZGaDcns%3D