Sara Haines is an American television host and journalist best known for co-hosting ABC’s daytime talk show The View and hosting the ABC primetime game show The Chase.
Her broadcasting career began behind the scenes at NBC in 2002 and grew steadily into one of the most visible on-air presences in American daytime television.
Who is Sara Haines?
Sara Hilary Haines is an American television host, journalist, and correspondent with over two decades of experience in broadcast media. She built her reputation across NBC and ABC, covering everything from lifestyle segments to major news events.
Her name became familiar to daytime audiences first through Good Morning America and later through The View, where she earned three Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.
Beyond talk television, Haines expanded her role as a game show host with The Chase, which premiered on ABC in January 2021. She also appears as a correspondent on ABC’s hidden camera show What Would You Do?
Is Ginger Zee a Twin Sister of Sara Haines?
No. Ginger Zee and Sara Haines are not twins, and they are not biological sisters of any kind.
The two women are close colleagues who both appear on ABC programming, and this professional proximity sparked a rumor around 2014. During an ABC hosting segment, Zee and Haines appeared on screen wearing the same purple blouse.
Viewers reacted playfully, and someone jokingly remarked that the two were now “twins.” That lighthearted comment about matching outfits spread online and took on a life of its own.
The facts make the rumor easy to disprove. Sara Haines was born on September 18, 1977, in Newton, Iowa. Ginger Zee was born on January 13, 1981, in Orange, California. That is a four-year age gap, and the two women were born in different states.
Their surnames are also completely different. Sara’s full name is Sara Hilary Haines. Ginger Zee’s real name is Ginger Renée Zuidgeest, and she later took her husband’s name, Colonomos. No biological connection exists between the two families.
Sara Haines grew up in Newton, Iowa, with three siblings. Ginger Zee’s family is based in Michigan and California, with no documented overlap with the Haines family.
Early Life of Sara Haines
Sara Haines was born and raised in Newton, Iowa, where she grew up alongside three siblings. Her parents, Dick and Sandy Haines, raised her in a family that she has described as a conservative household.
Newton, a small city in Jasper County, Iowa, shaped her Midwestern values and work ethic. Those formative years in Iowa stayed with her publicly enough that Newton’s mayor, Mike Hanson, proclaimed September 18 as “Sara Haines Day” in 2022 to honor her career achievements.
From Newton, Haines went on to attend one of the most respected liberal arts colleges in the country, setting the stage for a career in media and public communication.
Sara Haines Age / Birthday
Sara Haines is 48 years old as of 2026, born on September 18, 1977. Her zodiac sign is Virgo, a sign often associated with precision and a strong attention to detail. Both traits show up clearly in her approach to live television.
Sara Haines Ethnicity and Nationality
Sara Haines is American by nationality, born and raised in Newton, Iowa. Her background is not publicly confirmed in detail beyond her American identity. She has spoken openly about growing up in a conservative Midwest household and identifying politically as a “left-leaning moderate.”
Sara Haines Education
After growing up in Newton, Haines attended Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, one of the Seven Sisters liberal arts colleges. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 2000 from Smith College.
At Smith, she was active in athletics, playing both basketball and volleyball. Her time at Smith College rounded out the well-prepared profile she would bring to NBC shortly after graduating.
That government degree gave her a solid analytical base, which she has drawn on throughout her career covering politics, social issues, and current events on The View.
Sara Haines Career
Sara Haines began her television career in 2002 and has worked continuously in broadcast media since, building a portfolio that spans NBC and ABC across multiple formats, from morning news to game shows.
Her path moved steadily from production work to on-air roles, driven by a combination of on-camera presence and genuine editorial instinct developed over two decades.
Early Career at NBC (2002–2013)
Haines entered the industry through the NBC Page Program, a competitive training ground that has launched many broadcasting careers. After nine months in the program, she became the production coordinator for NBC’s Today, based at Rockefeller Center in New York City, in 2002.
By 2008, she had moved into on-screen work, hosting Today’s entertainment video blog “Backstage Pass,” through which she interviewed celebrity entertainers, actors, and musicians. That segment gave her early experience in conducting live and recorded celebrity interviews.
In 2009, Haines became a contributing correspondent for the fourth hour of Today, working alongside Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. She held that position through 2013, covering lifestyle, fashion, and human interest stories for the show’s afternoon block.
Move to ABC and The View (2013–2020)
Haines left NBC in 2013 and joined ABC News as a correspondent and pop news anchor for the weekend editions of Good Morning America. That move gave her broader news coverage responsibility and a higher-profile weekend platform.
After making multiple guest co-hosting appearances on The View, she joined the show as a permanent co-host for its 20th season, which premiered on September 6, 2016. Her tenure on The View during Seasons 20 and 21 earned her Daytime Emmy Award nominations in both 2017 and 2018 for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host.
In July 2018, ABC announced she would not return for Season 22 of The View. Instead, she moved to GMA Day, later renamed Strahan and Sara, co-hosting with Michael Strahan from September 2018. That program was later rebranded as GMA3: Strahan, Sara and Keke, with the addition of Keke Palmer in August 2019.
Current Role and The Chase (2020–Present)
GMA3 stopped airing new episodes in 2020, and Haines returned to The View as a frequent guest co-host before becoming a permanent co-host again for Season 24, which premiered September 8, 2020. She received a third Daytime Emmy nomination in 2020 for her work on the show.
In November 2020, ABC confirmed she would host its revival of the British quiz format The Chase. The series premiered in January 2021, with contestants facing off against expert quiz masters called Chasers. The show ran through multiple seasons, with Season 3 airing in 2026.
Haines also appears as a correspondent on ABC’s hidden camera show What Would You Do? and made a memorable cameo as herself in the second episode of the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, interviewing the character John Walker about his role as the new Captain America.
Sara Haines Awards and Recognition
Haines received three Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host, for The View in 2017 and 2018 and for Strahan, Sara and Keke in 2020.
In 2022, Newton, Iowa, recognized her publicly. Mayor Mike Hanson proclaimed September 18 as “Sara Haines Day” in the city, acknowledging her two decades of work as a journalist and television host.
The View itself is an Emmy Award-winning daytime talk show, and Haines’s long association with it has placed her within one of the most watched and discussed programs in American daytime television history.
Sara Haines Husband
Sara Haines met attorney Max Shifrin on the online dating platform OkCupid in 2012. The two dated for two years before marrying in November 2014.
Max Shifrin is a partner at the law firm BakerHostetler, where he focuses on resolving complex commercial disputes for global clients and devotes a significant portion of his time to pro bono work. He is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School.
The couple resides in New Jersey. Haines has spoken publicly about her marriage on The View, once describing their relationship as grounded in friendship: “It wasn’t as romantic or fairy-tale-ish as ‘I’ve been looking for you my whole life.’ It wasn’t any of that. He’s my best friend.”
Sara Haines Children
Sara Haines and Max Shifrin have three children. Their first son, Alec Richard, was born on March 5, 2016. The name Alec was chosen to honor both of their fathers.
Their daughter, Sandra Grace, was born on December 23, 2017. Sandra was named after Haines’s mother, Sandy. The couple welcomed their third child, a son named Caleb Joseph, on June 26, 2019. Caleb was named after Haines’s grandfather and brother.
After the birth of Caleb, Haines told People magazine the family was adjusting to three young children at once. “Within the chaos, we constantly remind each other to pause and take it all in,” she said. “We feel very lucky.”
Wikipedia also notes that Haines experienced postpartum depression following the birth of her first child, which lasted approximately one year.
Sara Haines Net Worth and Salary
Sara Haines’s estimated net worth is $6 million as of 2026. Her income comes primarily from her long-running television work at ABC, including her dual roles as co-host of The View and host of The Chase.
Salary
Haines’s annual salary from her media work is reported at approximately $1 million per year. Her dual ABC roles, hosting both a flagship daytime talk show and a primetime game show, place her compensation well above the average for daytime television.
Television and Endorsements
Beyond her main salary, Haines earns from public appearances and brand work connected to her public profile. Her combined reach across The View, The Chase, and What Would You Do? gives her one of the broader presences in ABC’s daytime and primetime lineup.
Overall, Haines’s income draws primarily from her television contracts, with her ABC roles forming the foundation of her financial profile.
Sara Haines Social Media
Sara Haines maintains an active presence across major platforms. On Instagram, she shares family moments, show clips, and personal updates at @sarahaines. Her Twitter account at @Sara_Haines covers show commentary and news.
Both accounts built their audiences during her years on The View and continue to grow alongside her work on The Chase.
Conclusion
Sara Haines has spent more than two decades building a television career that spans both morning news and primetime entertainment, with her work on The View and The Chase marking the clearest high points.
The persistent rumor about her and Ginger Zee being twins rests on nothing more than a shared wardrobe moment in 2014, and the basic biographical facts of both women make it easy to set the record straight.