‘GMA’ star Gio Benitez celebrates 38th birthday with famous friends as he gets unexpected surprise on morning show
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: ‘Good Morning America’ weekend anchor Gio Benitez shared a glimpse into his 38th birthday celebrations with his famous friends in New York City.
The birthday boy took to Instagram to share a brief clip from his birthday party where co-star Lara Spencer can be seen bringing out a homemade coconut cake for him.
Benitez’s celebrations were not only restricted to a small gathering as the ‘GMA’ star also received a massive surprise from musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan who shared a small video message wishing the host on his birthday.
Gloria’s and Emilio’s surprise came while the ‘GMA’ star was live, completely taking Benitez by surprise.
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Gio Benitez celebrates birthday with ‘GMA’ stars and friends
The ‘GMA’ weekend anchor was accompanied by his co-anchors Lara Spencer, and Robin Roberts and the show’s executive producer Simone Swink as he celebrated his birthday.
While Spencer got the coconut cake for him, the illustrious guests, which also included Roberts’ wife Amber Laign, hooted and cheered for him.
After Spencer set the cake in front of him, the 'Good Morning America' anchor blew out the candles.
Benitez donned a red shirt, while Spencer was dressed in a pink floral dress.
The ‘GMA’ weekend star was moved by the gesture and later shared the post on his Instagram.
He captioned the post, “Feeling all the love today. Thank you, @lara.spencer, for your delicious, homemade coconut cake surprise!” He concluded, “What a special night with the squad.”
Benitez’s husband Tommy Didario was also seen in the short video.
Gio Benitez surprised with on-air birthday message from A-list musicians
Benitez was surprised with a video message from Cuban-American musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan for his birthday while he was on air.
For the Play of the Day segment on ‘GMA', the anchors "completely skipped" the story they had in mind for something extra special.
They played a special "Happy Birthday Gio Potter" graphic, which featured Benitez’s face on Harry Potter's body, flying in on a broom.
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‘GMA’ anchors invited Benitez’s husband Tommy Didario to come out onto the stage. Didario arrived and hugged him as some photos of a young Benitez were shared with the viewers.
"We've got a really important video we need you to see, check this out," the anchors told Benitez after surprising him with all of the other birthday goodies.
They played a video from Gloria and Emilio Estefan. "Hi Gio, and Happy birthday!" Gloria said in the clip. "The 305 misses you and sends you lots of love and in the meantime, my mom would always say…,” she said.
She and Emilio launched into a Spanish 'Happy Birthday' song. Benitez couldn't help but yell, "Oh my God!" after all of the surprises.