‘Good Morning America’ ratings are reportedly so low, staffers have to endure working in dilapidated and ‘smells like crap’ building 

The glory days of Good Morning America seem to be long gone — both on the air and behind the scenes.

ABC’s flagship morning show is reportedly struggling to keep up with rival Today as its ratings continue to nosedive. The latest viewership data collected for the week of Oct. 28 and published in November showed GMA tanking as its competitor took the crown for TV morning shows with the most viewers.

However, it’s not just GMA’s TV numbers that are in freefall, as sources now claim that behind-the-scenes staffers are stuck working in a crumbling, smelly building that feels more like a haunted relic than a modern workplace.

One insider who anonymously spoke with Page Six on Dec. 3 said, “There’s no Wi-Fi, no heat, the antenna ripped off the building over the weekend, and they’re not replacing it.” Another painted an even grimmer picture, saying, “The heat is off!” And if that wasn’t bad enough, a third source bluntly declared, “It smells like crap.”

The GMA crew has been forced to endure these grim conditions at ABC’s aging Upper West Side headquarters — a building many say should have been condemned years ago. Since the 1980s, employees have been complaining about its shabby state.

One source described it as “old and musty,” a fitting description for a space that, in recent years, has been plagued by mice, fleas, broken elevators, and escalators. In 2023 things got so bad that employees were reportedly told to avoid the fifth floor entirely due to a full-blown infestation.

It’s like “the building is falling apart” in slow motion, and nobody’s trying to fix it, a frustrated insider shared. “There’s no incentive for upkeep” because the new owners are tearing it down to build high-rises. In other words, they’re just letting it rot.

The building, sold by ABC’s parent company Disney in 2018 for nearly $1 billion, has been neglected ever since. The network is still a tenant but has been limping along as staffers prepare to relocate to a new facility in downtown Manhattan. But the big move can’t come soon enough, so the remaining staffers will have to make do with what they have and survive the nasty situation in the building. 

Once a dominant force in morning television, GMA has been steadily losing viewers to NBC’s Today. The slump is reportedly so dire that GMA’s executive producer, Simone Swink, had to address it in a Monday morning meeting. Even Disney exec Debra O’Connell and network president Almin Karamehmedovic are said to be privately “dismayed” by the ratings drop, according to a Status newsletter.

Still, there’s hope that Swink can turn things around. “Simone is beloved. She is one of the hardest-working people in television and ]saved [GMA] from hemorrhaging more viewers. No one knows morning television better than her,” one source said.

For now, staffers are clinging to the promise of a fresh start at ABC’s glitzy new Hudson Square headquarters. The move, expected to be completed by February next year, could bring a much-needed energy boost to the floundering show.