Courtney

Eleven days before Savannah Guthrie's mother Nancy disappeared, NBC co-workers and execs said Savannah was "in full panic mode" and "fighting to save her job." While Savannah was on a leave of absence, the show's ratings shot up--12 percent more viewers compared to the previous year. She had taken time off in late December to recover from vocal cord surgery and the show got 2.86 million viewers with her off-screen, beating ABC rival Good Morning America, according to Neilson.  "Savannah is in full panic mode. While she's been away with the vocal issue, the ratings went UP!' a source told the Daily Mail on Jan. 20, eleven days before mom Nancy went missing. According to the Mail (article linked below), the source also said Savannah was, "pushing her doctors to get her back to work as soon as possible. And so that the audience doesn't forget her, she's insisting the show tape a piece on her at home recovering." The source added of the ratings: "She keeps asking, 'Is this a fluke?' But no one's giving her a straight answer, which is making it worse." "Savannah always believed she was the glue holding the show together. The numbers going up while she's gone has seriously rattled that belief. She feels blindsided." Other sources told the outlet that Savannah was obsessively checking the ratings while she was on leave.  "She's refreshing the ratings reports like it's her full-time job right now. It's consuming her." "Her biggest fear is that this changes how NBC sees her leverage. That thought alone is keeping her up at night." The outlet also reported on Jan. 20 that those who worked on the show reported a more relaxed, organic, warmer environment on set.  "Without Savannah, the vibe shifted immediately. It stopped feeling like a classroom and started feeling like a group of equals," another source told the outlet.  "There's less tension on set now. No one's worried about stepping out of line or getting corrected mid-conversation." Savannah makes a reported $8 million a year co-hosting the Today Show and her contract appears to be up soon--it was last renewed in 2020 and 2016.  All in all, the story of Nancy's disappearance keeps getting stranger. And Savannah is now at the center of the greatest drama in the country.