BREAKING NEWS: Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and Michael Strahan Absent from GMA in STUNNING ANNOUNCEMENT
Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan
Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan were absent from Good Morning America on Thursday(Image: ABC via Getty Images)

Good Morning America viewers were left surprised this week as the main anchors were temporarily replaced ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

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Co-anchors Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan were all absent from the ABC show on Thursday, with Deborah Roberts, Whit Johnson and Rachel Scott, as well as resident meteorologist, Sam Champion, hosting the program instead. Robin recently announced she was going out on assignment and wouldn’t return until after Labor Day.

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She is taking part in an ABC special about Hurricane Katrina, airing today, which will see her revisit the devastation in her hometown of Pass Christian, Mississippi, 20 years on from the devastating cyclone, which caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005. It comes after Starahan shared a ‘final walk’ as he bid an emotional goodbye.

 

Yesterday, Robin posted footage of herself doing her morning prayer, and confirmed she won’t be back on GMA until the beginning of next week

She captioned the post, “Good morning! With Glam Fam before we head out on assignment again. Not back in studio until after Labor Day. We miss you already! Before we see you in September (love that song!) we’d like to share with you our #tuesdaythoughts.”

Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan

The co-anchors were away from the program(Image: ABC via Getty Images)

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Meanwhile, George appears to be in the Hamptons, where he owns a vacation home, as his wife Ali Wentworth shared an Instagram post of an evening out in East Hampton, New York, on Wednesday evening. The couple also recently dropped off their youngest daughter at college.

It’s not clear where Michael is this week as he hasn’t shared any updates about his location online. It comes just weeks after GMA left its Times Square studio on June 13 and moved to the brand new ABC/Disney Studios in Hudson Square in The Big Apple’s lower Manhattan neighborhood.

The new set is located in the Robert A. Iger building, named after the current CEO of Disney. A spokesperson for the network told USA Today the move to the “new state-of-the-art building” was a “strategic decision that will allow for more collaboration and innovation.”

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Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan

The anchor were temporarily replaced ahead of the Labor Day weekend(Image: ABC via Getty Images)

Before their relocation this year, GMA was filmed in Times Square for 26 years, and many of the world’s most famous names have been interviewed there. Former women’s tennis star Serena Williams was the first guest to be welcomed into the studio on September 13, 1999.

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In its last week of airing, one of its guests was young tennis star Coco Gauff, who spoke about winning the French Open title. During the final show, Alicia Keys was the final guest.

Host Robin Roberts said at the start of the show, “It’s a big morning for us here at GMA as we say goodbye to our Times Square Studio. Alicia Keys is going to help us do that. She has been such a great friend through the years.” After their final show in Times Square, the team gathered at their longtime post-show hangout, O’Donoghue’s pub, which opened its doors two hours early for the farewell.