Late-night speculation collided with space exploration this week, thanks to Fox News host Jesse Watters, who left viewers both amused and slightly bewildered with his latest comments about astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams. During the March 31 episode of The Five, Watters expressed a rather eyebrow-raising curiosity: did the two astronauts, stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, “hook up”?

The Remark That Got Everyone Talking

While discussing Bill Hemmer’s interview with Wilmore and Williams, Watters joked that he wanted to “slap” his colleague for failing to ask the question everyone was secretly dying to know. “Hemmer’s a great interviewer, but he whiffed,” Watters said. “The main question that everybody wanted asked was, did they hook up? And he just left it hanging out there.”

Co-host Greg Gutfeld added fuel to the comedic fire, commenting on the astronauts’ body language: “Did you see their body language? Oh, they hate each other. Can you blame them?” Jessica Tarlov chimed in with more mundane details: “They talked a lot about what their days looked like. She even said that [Wilmore] would Zoom into his Sunday church service every week, so they kept some degree of regularity.”

Despite the routine updates about life in orbit, Watters zeroed in on what he deemed the real story. “I hope there’s a part two to this interview, Hemmer, because next time I see you, I’m going to slap you silly,” he quipped, leaving the audience in stitches.

Even President Trump Weighed In

Watters wasn’t the only one curious about the potential romance—or at least the possibility of chemistry—between the two astronauts. Last month, President Donald Trump publicly speculated about Wilmore and Williams’ relationship while speaking to reporters at the White House. “I hope they like each other. Maybe they’ll love each other, I don’t know. But they’ve been left up there, think of it. And I see the woman with the wild hair. Good solid head of hair she’s got. There’s no kidding; there’s no games with her hair,” Trump said, leaving social media ablaze with reaction and memes.

Astronauts Push Back on ‘Stranded’ Narrative

Of course, reality is often far less dramatic than headlines suggest. Both Wilmore and Williams are married—Wilmore has two children and lives in Houston with his family, while Williams lives with her husband, Michael Williams, also in Houston. The two astronauts have publicly dismissed claims that they were “stranded” or “abandoned” on the ISS.

At a NASA press conference, Wilmore clarified, “The stuck and marooned narrative… yes, we heard about that.” He explained that after technical failures on their Boeing Starliner spacecraft, the pair simply continued their mission as routine ISS crew members. “The plan went way off for what we had planned. But because we’re in human spaceflight, we prepare for any number of contingencies. This is a curvy road. You never know where it’s going to go,” he said.

Wilmore further emphasized, “So in certain respects we were stuck, in certain respects, maybe we were stranded, but based on how they were couching this, that we were left and forgotten in orbit, we were nowhere near any of that at all… In the big scheme of things, we weren’t stuck. We planned and trained. Let me comment back on this other [claim], you know, ‘They failed you’. Who? Who’s they?”

From Space Missions to Late-Night Laughter

Watters’ fixation on the astronauts’ potential romance highlights a fascinating cultural intersection: the public’s appetite for human drama mixed with scientific achievement. While NASA’s astronauts face real challenges navigating space, Fox News’ late-night host reminds us that the media lens often emphasizes personal intrigue over procedural details.

Gutfeld’s playful commentary, Tarlov’s mundane daily schedules, and Watters’ exaggerated threats to slap Hemmer all contributed to a spectacle that became social media fodder. Clips of the segment quickly circulated online, with viewers debating everything from astronaut camaraderie to the ethics of late-night speculation.

The Fine Line Between Curiosity and Ridicule

While some found Watters’ remarks lighthearted and humorous, others criticized the host for trivializing the astronauts’ incredible work. Spending nine months in zero gravity is no small feat, yet the conversation quickly pivoted to personal relationships, underscoring the tension between scientific achievement and entertainment.

Nevertheless, Watters and his co-hosts leaned fully into the absurdity, blending humor with the undeniable fascination audiences have with both space exploration and the human stories behind it. In the end, the segment perfectly encapsulated the power—and perils—of combining news, speculation, and comedy in the modern media landscape.

Conclusion

From spacewalks to office banter, the saga of Wilmore, Williams, and the probing questions of Jesse Watters demonstrates that even in the vast emptiness of orbit, human curiosity—and a flair for drama—knows no bounds. Whether audiences see it as harmless humor or cringe-worthy sensationalism, the story reminds us that astronauts may fly among the stars, but Earth-bound commentators will always bring them back down to human intrigue.