‘Wendy Williams’ announces guest hosts through early November

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The Wendy Williams Show” won’t be getting its namesake host back until at least November, the show has announced.

The syndicated talk show’s Season 13 premiere was pushed twice due to health issues with host Wendy Williams before returning Oct. 18, 2021, with a guest panel format.

Actress Leah Remini will guest host the rest of the week along with Michelle Visage, with some fans giving the pair rave reviews — and others not so much.

Either way, the show has announced that Whitney Cummings will fill in the week of Oct. 25, 2021, with former “View” co-host Sherri Shepard stepping in the week of Nov. 1, 2021.

Assuming the schedule remains as planned, that would mean the earliest Williams would return would be Nov. 8, 2021, though many insiders are speculating she may not return at all.

Williams has been public with her struggles with addiction, substance abuse, mental health as well as troubles with her thyroid and Graves’ disease.

When Season 13 was first postponed, Debmar-Mercury noted Williams had also tested positive from COVID-19 despite being vaccinated, though it did not appear that she was experiencing symptoms.

Union and other protocols likely would have prohibited her from being on set after a positive COVID-19 test, even if her health was otherwise fine.

Looking forward, “Wendy Williams” is only renewed through the end of this season and insiders further speculate that this will be the show’s final one.

Some have told sources that Williams is “over it” while other reports say Debmar-Mercury isn’t willing to risk moving forward with a host whose health conditions might prevent her from appearing consistently.

The show was stuck with running repeats even as most of its competitors had been back on the air with a new shows for weeks. Williams’ show tends to be highly focused on current events in pop culture, so running repeats is perhaps even more irrelevant that reruns would be for other shows.

It’s likely station stations and advertisers were beginning to get unhappy with the lack of new material — no matter who was hosting — because viewers tend to shy away if they know it’s going to be a repeat.

Meanwhile, there’s also been reports that Debmar-Mercury’s “Nick Cannon” could slide into her timeslot if and when the show does end. The two shows both air on Fox owned stations in major markets.

It’s also possible Debmar-Mercury is using the round of guest hosts to test out possible hosts for a new show that could debut in the coming year or so.