ABC News has found its new co-anchors for Good Morning America’s third hour (GMA3): GMA Weekend co-anchor Eva Pilgrim and ABC News Los Angeles-based correspondent DeMarco Morgan.
They’ll be joined on GMA3: What You Need to Know each afternoon by Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief health and medical correspondent.
Pilgrim joined ABC News in 2015 as a correspondent based in New York and has served as co-anchor of GMA Saturday and Sunday broadcasts since 2018. While at ABC News, Pilgrim has covered breaking news stories, including the recent mass shooting in Nashville, the Alex Murdaugh trial, the Charlottesville rally, the 2020 presidential election, the murder of George Floyd, and Hurricanes Matthew, Harvey, Irma, Maria and Michael.
Morgan is a longtime local news anchor who joined ABC News last year as a correspondent based in Los Angeles. Since joining ABC, DeMarco has covered a wide range of breaking news stories, including the recent severe weather in the West. Prior to ABC News, Morgan was co-anchor of the weekday morning and 11 a.m. KCBS newscasts, where he also reported for all CBS News networks’ broadcasts and platforms. Before that, he was a CBS News correspondent and previously anchored at New York stations WCBS and WNBC.
Pilgrim and Morgan are permanent replacements for Amy Robach and TJ Holmes, who exited ABC News in January after serving a two-month suspension for failing to disclose a romantic affair.
The Daily Mail broke news (and published photos) in late November 2022 of Robach’s and Holmes’ undisclosed romance. ABC News president Kim Godwin decided to remove Robach and Holmes from the midday edition of GMA five days after the story published. In a subsequent editorial call, Godwin told ABC News staff that while the anchors’ relationship did not necessarily amount to a violation of company policy, the ordeal had become an “internal and external distraction.”
But that’s not all on the promotion front. With Pilgrim taking on GMA3, ABC News transportation correspondent Gio Benitez becomes her replacement as a co-anchor for GMA Saturdays and Sundays alongside Whit Johnson and Janai Norman.
Benitez has covered aviation for ABC News since 2020, during the industry’s near-total collapse in the pandemic and space at the onset of America’s private space race, plus the auto industry and railroads. Since joining ABC News in 2013, he has also covered the Pulse nightclub shooting, El Chapo’s underground escape from a Mexican prison and the Boston Marathon bombing. Before joining ABC News in 2013, he was a reporter for WFOR-TV in Miami.
“I am incredibly proud of the reporting Eva, DeMarco and Gio have brought to ABC News. They join their colleagues Whit, Janai and Dr. Jen whose steadfast commitment to bold, straightforward journalism has been integral to their respective programs’ success,” Godwin told staff in an internal memo. “I must also acknowledge the incredible work of the teams led by executive producers Simone Swink and Cat McKenzie whose programs are the ones most Americans turn to for the day’s news, analysis and more. I know these programs – and our viewers at home – will be well-served by all of their collective talents.