Akbar Gbajabiamila has a huge presence in daytime TV as co-host of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football and CBS’s The Talk.
The former football star was missing from both shows on Monday, September 23 and each of his respective moderators addressed his absence.
At the top of the second hour of GMFB, Jamie Erdahl said that Gbajabiamila was “off doing his other job, which we know we love him from, and people know him from America Ninja Warrior. So you’re going to see him on that next summer, I believe. So that’s where he is for the next week or two.”
“He is absent, but he will return to us here on GMFB,” Erdahl added. “Officially, official, Akbar is in the desert.”
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Taking Gbajabiamila’s place on the NFL Network show on Monday’s episode was Isaiah Stanback, a former wide receiver who played for the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the New York Giants, the team that won Super Bowl XLVI.
Later that morning, The Talk’s Natalie Morales welcomed comedian and TV host Wayne Brady, who would be subbing for Gbajabiamila.
“As you can see, Akbar is not here today, he’s filming America Ninja Warrior, we wish him good luck,” Morales said before teasing the talk show would have “an incredible lineup of guest co-hosts for the next couple of weeks.”
After Morales commented on how shaped Brady looked, the Let’s Make a Deal host said, “I had to do Akbar proud. I am the Black bald man of the day.”
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