Ainsley Earhardt Is Not on 'Fox & Friends' This Week — Why?

Ainsley Earhardt has been a steady part of the lineup on Fox & Friends for years now, and plenty of people who wake up with Fox News have gotten used to her presence on the show. The week of Feb. 10, though, some Fox viewers noted that she is not a part of the hosting panel.

Following her absence, many wanted to know whether Ainsley has left the show for good, or whether there's been any explanation for her disappearance. Here's what we know.

We don't know exactly why Ainsley is not on Fox & Friends this week. She didn't post any explanation for her absence on social media, and her most recent posts are from her last show, which was Feb. 7, and featured Tom Brady previewing the Super Bowl.

There are a number of explanations for Ainsley's absence that could be relatively innocent, though.

It's possible that she's taken this week as a vacation week, and that she'll be back with the show in short order. It's also possible that she's sick or had some sort of family emergency that took her away from her job unexpectedly, but that would again mean that she will hopefully be back soon.

Some viewers naturally had concerns that Ainsley had been fired by Fox, but there's been no indication yet that that's the case.

All of her social media bios still say that she is a co-host on the show, so while we don't know exactly why she's absent, it seems unlikely that it has anything to do with Fox's appraisal of her overall performance.

What seems more likely, then, is that Ainsley will return as one of the show's hosts at some point, although that could be any time between tomorrow and a month or two from now depending on the reason for her absence.

It may or may not be a good sign, but we do that Ainsley's fiancé Sean Hannity is still on social media, and is still hosting his regular show. You would think that if anything terrible had happened to her, Sean would also be off work. Instead, he's chugging along like nothing happened, which likely means that whatever's going on with Ainsley isn't an emergency that requires his presence.

The likeliest explanation at this point is that Ainsley simply took some time off for one reason or another, perhaps to spend time with her daughter or to take care of some other responsibility. While she might never totally explain her absence, there have been no indications that she'll be gone for a long time.

Fans are sure to be eager for her return, but given the flurry of news following the election and inauguration, it makes sense that Ainsley might want to spend some time away from her day job and focused on other aspects of her life, at least for a little while.