Getty Jillian Mele attends the Chiara Boni La Petite Robe front Row during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Gallery II at Spring Studios on September 11, 2018 in New York City.
Jillian Mele is a co-host of Fox & Friends First. She is also frequently seen as a contributor on Fox & Friends, which is the most popular morning show on cable news. Mele joined the network in March of 2017 and quickly became popular with viewers.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. Jillian Mele is a Lifelong Athlete, and Spent Most of Her Childhood Dancing
YouTubeFox & Friends First went to Jillian Mele’s hometown of Glenside, PA in 2017 to introduce her to viewers.
Mele was born September 17, 1982, and was raised in Glenside, Pennsylvania. According to Fox News Insider, she grew up watching a lot of professional hockey. She described going to every Philadelphia Flyers home game with her father, Thomas.
Mele said she was devoted to dance as a child. She spent 13 years dancing ballet, tap, and jazz. She told Fox News Insider that looking back, she wishes she had stuck with dancing for a lot longer. Despite that background though, Jillian now claims she cannot dance! She tweeted on March 27, 2018, that she is the “worst dancer ever.”
Fox News viewers may have to wait to see evidence of her true dance skills, though. The hosts sometimes let loose on set, especially meteorologist Janice Dean. In the video above, Dean does the twist. But Mele and Ainsley Earhardt did not join in.
Mele did share an Instagram video on July 19th of her and co-host Rob Schmitt teaching a simple dance move to their fellow correspondents. She swings her arms and eventually transitions to the Macarena before stopping and laughing.
As an adult, Mele says she has fallen in love with golf. She went golfing for the first time during a vacation to Aruba in 2015.
2. Jillian Mele Keeps a Tight Lid on Her Romantic Life
@jrcantor2 I have a boyfriend, but thank you
Jillian Mele does not reveal much of anything about her romantic life. She has been on television for several years now but has never once shared a picture of a significant other.
In May of 2016, she caused a stir in a response to a comment on Twitter. She wrote, “I have a boyfriend, but thank you.” But Mele never expanded on this and never shared the identity of the mysterious man.
In 2013, Mele mentioned having a boyfriend who was from the Boston area. She said that affiliation had made her a Bruins fan. But it is not clear if this man is the same one referenced in the 2016 tweet.
Mele’s Instagram account does include several pictures with two very important men in her life: her younger brother and his reported partner. She refers to both men as her brothers in her photos but does not appear to have written their names in any of the posts.
@rpw822 No. Our interview was lighthearted. I have gay family members. He said something no one expected and I’m still absorbing it.
Mele confirmed in a 2016 tweet that she has family members who are gay. (For context, she was apparently offended after learning that the head coach of the Falcons had asked cornerback Eli Apple whether he was gay, and that inspired the tweet).
3. Jillian Mele Returned to the Site of Her First Job During a Segment on Fox & Friends
Jillian Mele got out into the workforce as a teenager. She got her first job at age 16 at a grocery store in her hometown of Glenside, Pennsylvania. She described O’Neill’s Food Market as a small, family-owned shop where everyone knows each other. She told Fox News Insider that she had been proud to wear the standard green uniform.
Mele got a chance to wear the green uniform again. To introduce Fox & Friends viewers to Mele in 2017, they sent her back to Glenside with a camera crew. While there, she stopped in the food market, where they immediately put her back to work.
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Mele was given a green sweatshirt and took over the cash register for a bit. She shared that bagging the groceries had been her favorite part of the job, and ever since, she always bags her own groceries.
4. Mele Worked as a Sports Reporter Before Joining Fox News
Mele graduated from LaSalle University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in arts and communication. Her first professional job was as a sports anchor in Presque Isle, Maine. She was there for 10 months before moving to Binghamton, New York. She spent the next year and a half working in news at WIVT-TV. But she got back into sports again with her next job.
Mele went closer to home and to her roots in October of 2007 when she joined the team at NBC10 in Philadelphia. She honed her chops there for more than 7 years as a sports reporter and news anchor. She also became accustomed to an early morning schedule. According to her LinkedIn page, Mele reported on the morning show, Monday through Friday 4-7 a.m.
Mele stayed within the NBC family with her next gig, at NBC Sports Philadelphia. For two years, she co-hosted a morning sports talk show called Breakfast on Broad. She also covered the Eagles on a show called Endgame.
5. Jillian Mele Has Won Two Emmy Awards For Her Reporting
At age 35, Jillian Mele has two Emmy awards under her belt. She earned the first one in 2014 while working at NBC10. She and the team won an Emmy for an Olympics special.
Then in 2016, she earned some hardware while hosting Breakfast on Broad, for a tailgate special.
Another “award” Mele said she was super excited about was being able to report from the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl parade. She wrote on Instagram, “My bosses are the best for letting me do this!!”
