‘Today’ Hosts Celebrate Craig Melvin’s Sexiest Man Alive Award Win Live on Show

The Today hosts couldn’t be happier about Craig Melvin‘s latest career accomplishment.

“About a month ago, ladies and gentlemen, we entered uncharted territory around here, launching a campaign on this show for something that has never been done before,” Carson Daly said during the NBC morning show’s Thursday, October 22, episode.

A video package featured clips of the Today hosts campaigning for Melvin to win the category he was nominated in for People’s Sexiest Man Alive Readers’ Choice Poll 2026. Melvin was up for the Hotter Than Your Morning Cup of Coffee award alongside Good Morning America‘s Michael Strahan and Gio Benitez, and CBS Mornings‘ Vladimir Duthiers.

After the package, Daly revealed that the hosts’ and fans’ votes paid off. “We are happy to announce, ladies and gentlemen, that our friend Craig here is officially hotter than a cup of coffee in the morning!” he exclaimed. “Craig, you have been voted People Magazine’s Sexiest Morning Show Host.”

Daly, Savannah Guthrie, and Al Roker cheered at the news before surprising Melvin with a celebratory stash, crown, and a Sexiest Man Alive-themed towel. “They know how much you sweat, so they gave you a towel,” Daly quipped. Guthrie added, “But now we know why he sweats. It’s ’cause he’s so hot.”

Melvin begrudgingly put on the accessories. “I don’t think we need to put the crown on,” he said before Guthrie placed it on his head. “I’m glad it’s over. Thank you.”

NBC

Melvin went on to jokingly thank his family for their support: “Thanks to my mom and my wife who voted at least a hundred, two hundred times, I’m sure.”

Melvin wrapped up the celebration by apologizing to that morning’s celebrity guest. “Now it’s really awkward ’cause look who’s here. Oscar winner — I’m sorry, Dame Helen Mirren, that you were subjected to that,” he said. “She’s classing up the joint.”

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Earlier this month, Dylan Dreyer and Savannah Sellers cracked up while showing Melvin how one fan was campaigning for his Sexiest Man Alive award. “This is Skelly, a neighborhood favorite in D.C., urging everyone to vote for Craig for People’s Sexiest Man Alive,” Dreyer said on October 9 while showing a photo of a giant yard skeleton holding a sign that read, “It’s so important you vote … for Craig Melvin as People’s Sexiest Man Alive.”

Melvin’s wife, Lindsay Czarniak, took to Instagram on October 12 to share a video about why she thought Melvin should be crowned morning TV’s hottest host. “He’s an amazing dad, tremendous husband, teammate, partner. [He’s] always so supportive and encouraging, I would say,” she said. “He makes a mean chili. He really does. Loves to whip up dinner on occasion, as we call it. He is a pro at candle-making. He is really good at debating. This is true, and I mean in the most positive of ways.” (The couple, who wed in 2011, share kids Delano and Sybil.)

Czarniak added, “Beyond that, he is someone that really cares about where he’s from, leaves people feeling really good about themselves in his presence. And beyond all those things that make him sexy on the outside — like, let’s be honest, the dimple, guys, it’s the dimple — I think it’s his character and his makeup on the inside that make us think that really, you know, he’s the sexiest man alive.”

Today, Weekdays, 7 am/6c, NBC