The alleged workplace relationship between Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes had a massive impact on ABC News, to say the least. The company has been in a period of transition since the two signed their iron-clad exit agreements and moved on. A question that had been widely wondered is, of course, who would be tapped to replace them as the co-anchors of GMA3: What You Need To Know. Well, we received the answer last week, as the conglomerate announced DeMarco Morgan and Eva Pilgrim would take over and work with series veteran Dr. Jennifer Ashton. Though Pilgrim and Morgan have been on the air for years now, some may not be all that familiar with them. So we’re going to discuss some interesting facts about the pair.
Eva Pilgrim Was Born Outside Of The United States And Moved There With Her Family As A Child
Eva Pilgrim is a first-generation immigrant, as she was born in South Korea and eventually moved to the United States when she was 11, per an interview with GMA’s George Stephanopoulos. Based on Pilgrim’s description, her life in the U.S. was pretty normal and she seems to have fond memories from her younger years. She also explained that as a kid, she had a keen interest in school:
I mean, I was kind of like a dorky, nerdy kid, right? But I liked school. I liked to study. There was something like, really rewarding about that. I was going to go into science, I didn’t think [journalism] was in the cards for me.
Life can certainly be unpredictable at times, but it sounds like the 40-year-old, veteran news person is pleased with the way things panned out. She’s had an interesting professional journey thus far, and we’ll talk a little more about that later.
DeMarco Morgan Became A Widely Accomplished College Professor After Past Academic Struggles
It’s fair to say that newly named GMA3 co-anchor DeMarco Murray is known for his status as a journalist, but he’s also been deeply involved with the world of academia for years now. The 44-year-old news reporter has served as a lecturer at a number of noted institutions over the years. But you may be surprised to learn that Morgan had struggles with school early on. He got candid about this while chatting with fellow GMA personality Robin Roberts:
I graduated from high school at the bottom of my class, but I applied to 12 colleges and universities and was denied acceptance to all of them but one. Jackson State University was the only one that said yes.
Jackson State, which is a historically Black college, proved that it could spot potential, as the Oklahoma native would graduate in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science. He credits the HBCU with setting him on the right professional path. And in 2002, he earned a Master’s Degree in journalism from Columbia University. All of this is impressive on its own, but it’s his resume as an instructor that’s truly remarkable:
[I] taught at Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, Spelman, Jackson State. I think I always made it my mission to give back because people poured so much into me.
Education is incredibly important, but educators are just as vital, and I can’t help but love that the Good Morning America star has paid it forward in such a way.
Eva Pilgrim Found Her Path To Journalism While In College And Jokes That ‘Beer Money’ Helped Initiate It
There are plenty of ways that one can find their way into the journalism field. Chances are that if you asked two or three reporters how they got their starts, they could give you totally different answers. If you asked Eva Pilgrim, she’d probably recall how she used to work on websites in college, doing so for “beer money,” as explained to George Stephanopoulos. And as fate would have it, one of those sites was for a news station, and the rest is history.
Once she got her start, the young reporter worked her way through the local news circuit. When reflecting on her work for a 2019 GMA feature, she recalled not seeing many women of Asian descent on TV until she was a bit older. That representation meant a great deal to her:
There weren't that many half-Asian women on television when I was a little girl. I grew up in a town where everybody looked so very different from me, so for me seeing those women on TV, it wasn't just, 'Oh, I can do that job,' but, 'Oh, women like me exist in other places than where I live.' That was inspiring in its own way.
She’s certainly gone the distance since then as, after she wrapped her local news run, she joined ABC News in 2015 and eventually served as a weekend correspondent for GMA. That’s the post she held before being named the co-anchor of GMA3. With so many accomplishments under her belt, in hindsight, it’s funny to think that it was partially set in motion by a desire for beer money.
DeMarco Morgan Had Already Put In Work For GMA3 Before Officially Landing The Gig
DeMarco Morgan worked at quite a few places before joining the alphabet network. Over the years, he’s worked for stations in Miami, New York, Atlanta and more. The accomplished journalist is still relatively new to ABC News, believe it or not, as he joined in December 2022 as a correspondent based in Los Angeles. It’s fair to say that he entered the fold at a very interesting time, as it was at that point that the company began dealing with the blowback from the previously mentioned romance coming to light.
After T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach were taken off the air in December, the correspondent began serving as a fill-in anchor for GMA’s third hour on the weekdays. He ultimately did so for a few months, and one would think that his work impressed execs enough to keep him on permanently.
Eva Pilgrim And DeMarco Morgan Both Do Quite A Bit With Their Spare Time
You can’t have work without a little bit of leisure time, and it would seem that GMA3’s new anchors understand the value of off days. Eva Pilgrim is married to Ed Hartigan, a digital marketing manager and director. The two also share a daughter named Ella, who was born in 2021. With her busy schedule, Pilgrim seems to relish the time that she gets to spend with her family. Take a look at the Instagram post below:
Meanwhile, DeMarco Morgan has a few interests of his own, with a number of them involving public activism. He’s a proud and active member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Morgan also volunteers with organizations like the NAACP, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the American Cancer Society. On top of that, he’s also a baseball fan as evidenced by his occasional LA Dodgers-related Instagram posts. And when he’s not doing any of the above, you can probably find him running or cycling:
All in all, it looks like Good Morning America has landed on two strong news personalities to succeed T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach. A new day is certainly donning at GMA and, if their past work is any indication, Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan should be more than successful with their new duties.
GMA3: What You Need To Know airs weekdays on ABC at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT and is a part of the 2023 TV schedule. You can also stream it using a Hulu subscription.
