Sara Haines made a name for herself on morning news shows and TV talk shows. She has been a co-host of ABC’s “The View” and a co-host for ABC News on “Good Morning America” shows. She has worked on NBC’s “Today” show and as an online entertainment reporter.
Recently, she stepped into the role of game show host for ABC’s “The Chase.” It is on ABC Thursdays from 9 to 10 p.m. and is available on Hulu.
“The Chase” is a game show that pits contestants against a quiz show genius. “Jeopardy!” greats James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter take on contestants weekly to challenge them for cash and game-show greatness.
Haines recently talked about taking on her new role as host of “The Chase” and how her previous work in TV prepared her for her latest project.
“I’ve always dreamt of being part of a game show because games in my family are, are every time we’re together, holidays, vacations there are always games,” Haines said. “So in a — I have a nostalgic connection to any game you’re ever playing that it’s kind of a moment where you end up laughing. I just associate it with family and celebration.”
She said she connects playing games with making good memories. While she started her career in TV on the more serious side of news, she wanted to have a comedic outlet. “The Chase” provides that outlet in a sense.
“Games to me are checking out,” Haines said. “And I love that they’re — they bring people together, whether it’s laughter, I knew that answer, you cheer on a regular person doing amazing things. So to be any part of a game show was a dream, and it kind of first planted the seed.”
In her time as a TV host on news shows, she worked with Michael Strahan on ABC’s “Good Morning America” shows. Her working relationship with Strahan goes back to game shows though and it was a sort of motivation for Haines to work on a game show too.
“And when I first visited him at Pyramid, I was like I can’t believe you get paid to sit, like be at a game all day long,” Haines said. “And then fast forward and I sit there feeling very blessed.”
But working with the game show champions, Holzhauer, Jennings and Rutter, have been the most gratifying part of being host of “The Chase.” Haines has learned about each one’s personality and finds all of them to have inspiring qualities.
“These three guys have been such a part of like news updates, their winning streaks and everything else,” Haines said. “Meeting them, they weren’t what I expected in the best way. So we had a dinner right before we started and it was the three of them who know each other well and myself.”
Haines said the three of them were incredibly smart, but also refreshingly relatable.
“They were literally felt like brothers, they started jousting and joking and I thought, Ken is like this warm paternal figure, Brad is like this cool guy I could see myself hanging out with, and James was like that sibling that just everything you said, … you’re like come on James like take a breath,” Haines said. “You know, and by the end of the dinner, we were all laughing and I thought these guys are awesome, they’re not just smart. So I would say surprisingly I didn’t think I’d have such a connection to these three guys and that was that might be my favorite part of shooting it.”
Watch Sara Haines on ABC Thursdays from 9 to 10 p.m. and is available on Hulu.
Photos courtesy of ABC.
