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While much is new about this long-running show, for “BT” viewers the big news is the return of the much beloved Pugliese,��who left the program just over two years ago, citing exhaustion and the need to support her loved ones, who were��dealing with serious health issues.

Pugliese came out incognito in a giant moose costume Monday and watched on the sidelines before she made her way on set, still in costume as the show’s “new mascot,” the “BT” morning moose.

“Surprise!” said Pugliese, pulling off the costume. The cast was surprised and gave her hugs, while staffers cried at the announcement.

“When I left, I was so burnt out. I felt like I was disappointing my family and the viewers, because that’s my calling, to make people’s day less crappy,” she said, tearing up, in an exclusive interview with the Star last week.

Pugliese said her husband was dealing with a brain tumour that required a nine-hour operation to remove. Her sister was diagnosed with cancer, too, and she wanted to be able to support her as much as possible.��She also wanted to be around more for her aging parents. She said her husband is still recovering but, after time away, she started to feel like herself again.

“I could not get enough rest in the beginning after I left and was wondering, am I ever going to have energy again? So it was a lot of resting and walking and cooking and cleaning and sleeping and then repeat. I had amazing job opportunities come my way, and I was so grateful for that, but I couldn’t even imagine stepping onto a stage,” she said.

“I couldn’t even imagine performing and emitting an energy like I used to.”

She was asked to speak at a convention for caregivers and wasn’t sure she could do it, she said. She admitted to feeling exhausted afterward, but said it went so well that she started to feel a spark again.

Then a few months ago, Claire Adams, “BT” executive producer, reached out, asking to have tea. Pugliese said it was like a therapy session, with lots of tissues to wipe away the tears. It was there that Adams first raised the idea of Pugliese returning to TV, in the role she previously held for 16 years.��

“She was like, ‘If you’re ready, I would love to have you back on duty and bringing joy back into the mornings for us the way you did.’ And I just sobbed even more and I said, ‘Let me think about it.’”

She said she prayed on it and talked to her husband and parents.

“This was the one thing that was missing over the last two years. I finally felt ready and prepared, and rested and recovered enough to get back to it,” said Pugliese.��

She said the cast and crew are still like family and she’s kept in touch. Although it’s been hard, one of the goals was to have a big surprise reveal and none of the other “BT” regulars, like Frank Ferragine and Devo Brown, knew that she was coming back.

Staff members on the morning show crowded behind the anchor desk before the big reveal.��

Brown and Melanie Ng were on the couch teasing the big moment.��“This is going to be wild,” said Ng. “This is going to be fun.”

Bolen was brought out first and��received big hugs from the cast.��“This is amazing. I’m a big hugger,” said Bolen.

Bolen said last week he loved his time at CHCH and still calls the Hamilton area home, but this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“‘BT’ is the benchmark. It is the show that everybody else follows. To be able to follow so many legendary hosts that have been on the show and now to be a member of that and see what I can do, I’m just so honoured,” said Bolen.

Bolen said one of the things he and��Pugliese have in common is what you see is what you get. They both have a sense of fun and it’s apparent there is chemistry developing between them.

In��an interview last week,��Pugliese grabbed this reporter’s tape recorder and playfully zapped herself as if it was a Taser. At one of their first Zoom calls after he got the gig, Bolen wore the top of a suit, popped champagne to celebrate but was wearing shorts, the classic pandemic business-up-top, party-below look.��

“I think more than ever, Canadians want to wake up with a sense of optimism, hope and comfort and I think that’s what Dina and Tim bring to the morning,” Adams told the Star. “We have the best audience in television and what the viewer wants is a sense of community. That’s what we are bringing back with ‘BT.’”

Adams said there will be a number of new segments, but part of the focus is on reflecting Toronto’s communities.

One of the reasons the set is moving from the studio overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square is because the new one is more technologically capable, with more screens, but also so there can be more collaboration with some of Rogers Sports & Media’s other programs,��Adams said.

Of course, the announcement of the new hosts comes after the shock to the audience when Seixeiro and Shaw were dismissed, which was announced by an awkward-looking Brown on Feb. 10. Pugliese had been in talks for a few months and Bolen left his role at CHCH on Jan. 25, citing a new opportunity, so these moves to bring them to the show had been in the works for a while.��

“The media landscape is always shifting and part of my job and the leadership at Citytv is to look at the shows and try and make the best decisions we can for the audience. We have had to evolve our plans and that’s why we made those decisions at the time,” said Adams about why the pair was let go, adding that they wish��both former hosts well.��

Another change is that beyond being a host, Pugliese is also an executive producer.

“Does that mean I have to call you boss too?” joked Bolen.

“It means I’m going to fire you,” Pugliese shot back with a smile.��

“We asked Dina to join the leadership team because there is no one else who knows what the ‘BT’ audience wants more than her,” said Adams.��