Meghan who? The new season of The View is back without Meghan McCain, and those behind-the-scenes are apparently happier than ever with the Republican's absence.
It seems hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar are hoping to keep up the good energy on set, as an insider revealed the two teamed up to make sure McCain's replacement is to their liking.
A source told Radar the ladies let management know that they must be involved in choosing the new host at the table because they're not willing to go back to having brutal blow-out fights ever again.
The source acknowledged “disagreement between the ladies" on the show is great. However, "having an all-out war each day is not. No one wants to come to work prepared for a fight," the insider added, referring to the day-to-day feuds between McCain and the ladies over the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, Republican party, anti-Semitism and everything else under the sun.
SCREAMING MATCHES, RANTS, MORE! WATCH MEGHAN MCCAIN'S MOST EXPLOSIVE MOMENTS ON 'THE VIEW'
"The last four years with Meghan were exhausting. The nastiness you saw on camera was nothing compared to what was going on behind the scenes," the source dished. "This can never happen again.”
While Goldberg, 65, and Behar, 78, don't get the final say in the show's decision, "this time they are both insisting on being involved," explained the insider. "The last thing the ladies want is another Meghan McCain situation on their hands."
"They would rather another Elisabeth Hasselbeck or even Rosie [O'Donnell] than another Meghan,” the source added of the former hosts. Hasselbeck, an outspoken conservative, left the morning show in 2013 after spending a decade on the series. As for O'Donnell, she left the show in 2007 after an explosive fight with then co-host Hasselbeck and briefly returned in 2014.
As OK! previously reported, the mother-of-one, 36, announced in July she would be leaving the morning show after season 24 finished up in August. At the time, McCain explained to her fellow cohosts and the audience that she was walking away to prioritize her family — she and husband Ben Domenech welcomed their first child together, daughter Liberty, last September.
Meanwhile, OK! learned ABC sat the ladies down months before McCain's exit to tell the TV personalities to cool it on the personal attacks on-air before someone has to get the boot.
ABC News president Kim Godwin reportedly called an immediate meeting after Behar and McCain got into on a May episode, telling the women the altercations are coming off as toxic to viewers. It seems McCain took the meeting to heart, as she reportedly stormed out of the room because she was feeling "attacked."
Goldberg and Behar aren't the only ones thriving after McCain's exit, given that the former TV host already has numerous projects in the works. Shortly after she announced her resignation from The View, it was revealed that McCain is set to executive produce the film adaption of Lifetime’s upcoming Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff: The Kristine Carlson Story.
McCain also confirmed on Thursday, September 9, that she's joining the Daily Mail as a columnist, with her first piece coming out the week of September 20th.
