GMA's Gio Benitez screams 'Oh my God!' after co-hosts blindside him with surprise A-list guests live

Publish date: 2024-05-18

GOOD Morning America's Gio Benitez has been surprised with a video message from Gloria and Emilio Estefan for his birthday live on air.

Gio shared a clip from the moment his co-hosts launched their surprise birthday attack on him.

"What a special morning at @goodmorningamerica with my GMA fam surprising me with @tommydidario, @gloriaestefan, and @emilioestefanjr! This little Cubanito from Miami is blown away. Gracias!!" Gio captioned his Instagram video.

For the Play of the Day segment on GMA, the news anchors "completely skipped" the story they had in mind for something extra special.

They played a special "Happy Birthday Gio Potter" graphic, which featured Gio's face on Harry Potter's body, flying in on a broom.

Gio couldn't help but roar with laughter as his co-hosts wished him a happy birthday.

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They shared a few photos as well, with his husband Tommy DiDario having made Gio a Harry Potter cake.

GMA's anchors invited Tommy to come out onto the stage.

Tommy arrived and he and Gio embraced as there were more photos of young Gio shared.

"We've got a really important video we need you to see, check this out," the anchors told Gio after surprising him with all of the other birthday goodies.

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They played a video from Gloria and Emilio Estefan for Gio.

"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 and Emilio launched into a Spanish "happy birthday song."

Gio couldn't help but yell "Oh my God!" after all of the surprises.

GIO'S BIG DAY

Gio had tons of birthday surprises in store for him.

He also shared footage of co-anchor Lara Spencer, 54, bringing her homemade coconut cake to his big birthday bash.

After Lara set the cake in front of him, the Good Morning America star blew out the candles.

Gio donned a reddish shirt as Lara dressed in a pink floral dress. 

The camera turned and pointed at the guests, such as executive producer Simone Swink and Robin Roberts, 62, as they whistled and cheered.

Gio captioned the post: "Feeling all the love today.

"Thank you, @lara.spencer, for your delicious, homemade coconut cake surprise!"

He closed with: "What a special night with the squad."

'CELEBRATING YOU'

Gio's husband, Tommy Didario, 38 - who also appeared in the short video, jumped to the comments section and wrote: "Celebrating you is my favorite thing to do." 

The Entertainment Correspondent on Extra closed: "Happy birthday, my love." 

GMA's weather forecaster Sam Champion, 62, added red heart emojis and wrote: "Perfect way to celebrate! Happy, Happy Birthday Gio."

Gio's hubby also shared a sweet snapshot of themselves together carrying a Harry Potter-themed birthday cake.

Tommy wrote: "@GioBenitez has always been a huge fan of the Harry Potter films, so this year I brought a little witchy Potter magic to him."

The duo on Instagram in 2015 before they eventually had their first date over tacos, guacamole, and margaritas.

Gio proposed to Tommy about a year later while the pair was on a romantic getaway to Paris.

The couple got married on April 16, 2016, in an intimate ceremony in MiamiFlorida.

SAD FAREWELL

The ABC star held a celebratory bash after announcing the bittersweet departure of a colleague.

In early October, Gio took to Instagram and told his followers that his showrunner, Shaun Francis, had his last day at the morning show.

He gathered Simone, Shaun, Janai Norman, 33, and ABC News president Kim Godwin together for a behind-the-scenes photo.

Gio and another individual held up a cake that read: "Congrats, Shaun!"

Despite the sad day, the group all had smiles on their faces.

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Gio wrote: "A bittersweet morning at GMA Saturday and Sunday as our incredibly talented show-runner @shaunmtfrancis takes on an exciting new role at @abcnews.

He also threw shade at his co-star and jokingly closed: "The missing piece of cake is Janai’s, obviously."

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