Eva Pilgrim is a seasoned journalist who finally landed her dream role after years in the industry. She is the new face of Inside Edition, taking over after Deborah Norville’s 30-year run came to an end earlier this year when she left the show.

Before hosting Inside Edition — which returns for a new season on September 8 — Pilgrim was an anchor and correspondent on GMA3 and ABC. She and DeMarco Morgan took over the morning show when Amy Robach and TJ Holmes were let go. Pilgrim also served as a Senior National Correspondent for ABC News.

Throughout her impressive career, Pilgrim has reported for several prominent outlets, including 20/20, Nightline, World News Tonight with David Muir, as well as local news stations. As the new face of Inside Edition, Pilgrim talked to TV Insider about stepping away from GMA, balancing her career with motherhood, and why this role is a dream come true.

How did the Inside Edition opportunity come about? Did you apply for it? 

It was kind of random. I was approached. They reached out and we talked, and I was like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe this job is real.” And we sort of navigated from there to figure out if it was a job I could take.

Was it hard to leave GMA? 

It was hard because I’d been there for a long time. I mean, I’d been at ABC since my Philly days. So, in a lot of ways, I think I grew up there. I sort of figured out my storytelling voice there. Kind of built that confidence. There were a lot of people who poured into me to help me kind of grow into what I have become, and I still think I have growing to do. But there was significant growth that happened in my time there, and that’s always hard when you have people who believe in you that much. But some of my biggest mentors were the ones who were like, “You have to take this job.”

You became the GMA3 anchor with DeMarco Morgan after Amy Robach and TJ Holmes were let go from the program. What was that time like on set? How did you react to the anchor position?

Quite honestly, I was in South Carolina covering the Murdoch trial, and they basically just called me one day and we’re like, “Do you think you’d want to fill in on GMA3?” And I was like, “Well, we don’t have a verdict yet, but I don’t know that we’re gonna have a verdict for another week or two.” So I think, about a month later, I finally was back and got to fill in, and then ended up in that role. But yeah, I was fully out of the building and unaware of what was happening. I was really kind of deep into a story that I had been covering for a while. But it was exciting. It was like a chance to have a stable schedule. And I haven’t had that in this business before that job.

You’ve said before that this is your dream role. Why is that? 

So, one, the schedule is insanely good. That’s always a perk. It’s not the only perk, but it is a large perk. I can take my daughter to school in the morning, and I’m home to eat dinner with her. In the afternoon, there will be the occasional time when I have an assignment that I have to go do, and that maybe I’m not home for dinner, for school drop off, but that’s not the norm. So that, in and of itself, is worth more than I can put a price tag on, right? It’s worth so much to be around to watch my little girl grow up. 

But also, what’s amazing is this place does storytelling in such a remarkable way, and they’re so interested in it. It’s a big staff; it’s not a small staff. It’s a big staff, but it’s still small enough that we can experiment, in other platforms, not in our broadcast that you see on TV, but what goes on TikTok and YouTube. They can play around with it, and they have, and when you look at their YouTube following, you see that. I mean, the following for this 130-minute program on YouTube is kind of crazy, and I think that’s really special. And it’s showing in the future and being realistic about kind of how people are consuming media and making sure that they’re relevant to those people. And I think there’s something really unique and special about that.

Did you get any advice from Deborah before stepping into the role?

She sent me a really nice email. And it’s funny, because everyone’s like, “Oh my god, Deborah, 30 years,” and she was even like, “I can’t believe I stayed,” but it was because it was such a great job. And that’s what she said. You look at the staff that’s here, there are some younger people on the staff, but there are also a lot of people who have been here for 30-plus years, because it’s a good job. From the top down, everyone is pretty happy with the work-life balance. That job doesn’t exist in this world anymore, and people know it’s special. And so there is this sort of camaraderie that comes from getting to have this job.

The people here have cheered for me in ways that they don’t really have to. Like, yesterday, one of the producers, who was on vacation my first week, came in, and he immediately walked over to me, sitting at the horseshoe, and he gave me a card, and there were chocolates in the card. He had just come back from Paris. That’s the kind of people you’re working with. It’s really incredible. And they’re all happy. And that’s so rare in any line of work, but especially this business.

On the other side of things, what advice do you have for whoever will be taking over your role at GMA?

For young correspondents coming in, I always tell them, “Get ready for the ride.” It’s a privilege, and you should recognize that getting to see the world and be a part of history in that way is something that you have to have a lot of reverence for. And it’s a job that you say yes to a lot of things, even when you’re tired. And at the point that you’re tired, don’t want to do the chaos. It’s time to step aside to let someone else have a chance at it. Because it is special.

Very few opportunities in life give you that front row seat. I got to see everything from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to multiple campaign seasons on the campaign trail to absolute horrific natural disasters and the resilience that people have, and awful tragedies as well. You just learn so much about the world and people, and I’m always like, “Strap in. It’s going to change you, and it’ll be worth it.”

What do you hope to bring to Inside Edition, and do you want to change or add anything? 

I think the program is kind of awesome, to be honest. If you watch it, it’s really one of those things that holds your attention. So many of my friends have been like, “Even the commercials are interesting.”

I think for me, the thing I think about is I’m not old, but I’m not young. I see the way that my friends and family consume media. And so my sort of thinking in this moment is, “How do we make sure we’re still reaching those people and staying relevant to them?” Because you want to honor the viewers that are watching you in the traditional sense, but also stay in touch with the people who are consuming media in other places. 

Content storytelling is always going to win, and this staff does finding stories and telling stories better than anywhere else. But I think it’s sort of like you got to stay in touch with those people, right? And so that’s sort of kind of where my brain is, in the future, going forward. I want someone else to have this job one day. It’s such a gift for someone else to have this job. I want to do it for 30 years and then be able to hand it off to someone else and be like, “Here you go. Be a good steward of the spot that I was given.” And I think there is a way for it to stay relevant and interesting and for people to still be watching it in 30 years.

You sort of answered this already, but what do you think has made Inside Edition last almost 40 seasons?

I think it’s the stories, and I think it’s the way that they tell the stories. There’s no space for boring, right? Does it give you a chance to not be interested? You’re constantly sort of on the edge of your seat, going, “Wait, what?” And they find those stories. I mean, some of these stories don’t make the other big national newscasts, but they are stories that people are talking about, and they want to talk about, they’re interested in, and so I think that resonates with people. And so I think that’s why it’s done so well, even when others haven’t.

How would you compare and contrast working at GMA and Inside Edition? Is one more lowkey? 

It’s funny, and I think people don’t realize this, and I’ve realized it more being here just for a week now. But, the pipeline from Inside Edition over to GMA is, for real, a lot of the staff at GMA, once upon a time, worked at Inside Edition. And so there is so much that’s familiar and similar, because this is where people learned, and it’s the exciting storytelling. A lot of the stories I did at GMA were the stories that aired at 7:30. They were the mystery, the interesting, crazy story that everyone’s talking about. Inside Edition is a newscast full of that. And so, that storytelling is, I don’t want to say they learned it here, but I think they learned it here.

Inside Edition isn’t live, like GMA, right?

So we do it, because the show is aired at different times across the country, it might be taped in that market, but we do actually do the show live. We do it twice, actually, so that it’s the most current version. We have a version we do for the early stations that tape it first, earlier in the day, which starts at 3:30, and then we do a version of it for the later stations that take it everywhere from five until 7:30, so we definitely do it live. 

Aside from hosting Inside Edition, what does your life look like now?

I mean, I have a three-year-old, and I have a dog that had a back injury, so he’s almost paralyzed. So, it’s a lot of taking care of people. I was up in the middle of the night with my daughter, who decided to drink a bunch of water before bed last night, and she had to pee, and needed a snack, and then we were up early doing exercises for my dog and teaching him how to use his new wheelchair. So, a lot of family [time], which I never dreamed was possible to have. I’m enjoying it.

I’m the luckiest person. I really feel that way. I have an incredible husband who is just, he would never, ever have complained about how crazy my schedule was at ABC. He was always cheering for me, but I think he’s really relieved that I’m home.

Inside Edition, weeknights starting September 8, check local listings