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Blake Shelton Surprises Hoda Kotb’s On Final Week on ‘Today’

While making a surprise stop on Today with Hoda and Jenna, Blake Shelton shared a funny story about Hoda Kotb dodging him at a Nashville party. Shelton said in his…

Blake Shelton is wearing plaid, hugging Hota Kotb, who is wearing denim.
Erika Goldring/Getty Images

While making a surprise stop on Today with Hoda and Jenna, Blake Shelton shared a funny story about Hoda Kotb dodging him at a Nashville party.

Shelton said in his Today show appearance, "It's funny, too, that you talked about Hoda saying I was her first love or whatever. I did run into her in Nashville one time, off camera, it had nothing to do with television or anything. And I thought it was going to be our moment."

As Kotb nears her last days on the show, Blake let it slip. "But she completely ran away from me. I mean, she ran away from me like totally afraid of me."

While Kotb just sat there stunned, Jenna Bush Hager jumped in to bring up Kotb's old crush on the country star. Shelton quickly shut that down. "Okay, Jenna, let's just slow your roll a little bit. I'm just saying I saw Hoda in Nashville and she ran away from me at a party. That's all I'm saying."

When asked about the mysterious Nashville run-in, Kotb looked completely lost, blurting out a confused "Wait, wait. What?!"

This appearance comes during one of Kotb's final shows before she signs off today (1/10), ending her 18-year run at the news desk since starting in 2006.

In closing, after exchanging love for one another, Jenna said, "Tell Gwen (Stefani) we love her." Blake and Gwen, of course, first met while coaching on The Voice in 2014. They got together in 2015 after both going through divorces. In a romantic turn, they married at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch in 2021, in a chapel he built just for their wedding.

Shelton revealed in a recent interview what his album plans are as he recently released a new song called "Texas." He said, "I bet you next month (January), I'll know when the album date is gonna be."

As Blake shares, the project depends on what his new song does on country radio. He noted that the "truth is" his new record label will "probably gonna wait" and see what happens with this song. He added that then "they'll probably start the clock."

As for his recording career, it will last for quite a while. He said, "I'll tell ya this. I have some things cut, but I'm gonna keep recording until they tell me time's up."

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.