Wendy Williams has booked a Monday Hot Topics panel as well as hip-hop icons Fat Joe and Remy Ma to guest host the show in the week of Thanksgiving, the show said Monday.
The Hot Topics panel, which includes MTV’s The Challenge: Aftermath’s Devyn Simone, media personality Bevy Smith, Variety chief correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister and comedian Michael Yo, will take the stage on Monday, Nov. 22. Smith and Wagmeister hosted Fox’s now-defunct syndicated news magazine Page Six TV from 2016-18.
For the remaining two days of that holiday week, hip-hop duo Fat Joe and Remy Ma will take their turn on the purple couch. The pair have appeared on the show several times before with both coming on in 2017 when Remy Ma was feuding with rival rap queen Nicki Minaj.
Wendy Williams, who has hosted the eponymous daytime talker since 2009, has been out all season on extended medical leave after being diagnosed with a breakthrough case of COVID-19 in September. She later was checked in to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. After Lionsgate-owned Debmar-Mercury, which produces the show, delayed its season-13 premiere for a month, Wendy Williams returned with guest hosts on Monday, Oct. 18.
In the week ended Oct. 31, the last week national ratings were available, Wendy Williams was guest-hosted by comedian Whitney Cummings. The show averaged a steady 0.8 in households and tied for fifth place in talk with CBS Media Ventures Rachael Ray and NBCUniversal’s Maury.
Also: Syndication Ratings: ‘Ellen DeGeneres’ Shows Strength in Final Season
