“Don’t Tell Anyone!” – David Muir Shocks Viewers by Revealing What’s Been Hidden Under the Desk for 11 Years… and Fans Can’t Believe This Is What America’s No.1 News Anchor Really Wears On Air Every Night!…

• David Muir opened up to PEOPLE about his life on and off camera
• The television anchor admitted he wears jeans during his news casts
• “I don’t try to take myself too seriously,” says Muir

David Muir is sharing some behind-the-scenes details about World News Tonight.

Going on his eleventh year helming the ABC program, Muir, 51, opened up to PEOPLE about his life on and off camera — including his attire for news casts.

“I generally have jeans on from the waist down,” he admits. “So the first thing that we try to do is make sure my jeans aren’t showing… I really don’t try to take myself too seriously but I always just joke, ‘Don’t tell anyone about the jeans and the boots!’”

The anchor also admits to double-checking the date with his floor director Michelle before going on the air. “Because the news is hitting us at lightning speed, I literally will say just before we come on, ‘It’s great to have you Shelly on a Tuesday night?’ And she says, ‘Yes, David, it’s Tuesday,’” he says with a laugh.

Off camera, Muir enjoys spending time in nature with his dog, Axel.

“I’d say my most comfortable element is being outside, covered in mud like this weekend,” he tells PEOPLE following a Memorial Day weekend trip to his hometown in upstate New York. “It was pouring rain and I loved every second of it.”

“I have a German short-haired pointer, and for him, the biggest event of the weekend was discovering there was a beaver who had begun to build a dam inside the little boathouse,” he shares. “So I spent more time at nightfall standing on the dock with the dog who was waiting for a glimpse of this beaver coming out of the boathouse than I did doing anything else.”

“When you’re out there on the lake, smelling the same air that you smelled when you were on your BMX bike back when you were a kid, there’s something really fueling about that and connected about it. You just feel like you’re home again,” Muir adds. “I couldn’t have been happier.”

The news anchor also addressed the many thirst edits of him on TikTok.

“People will forward TikTok videos, but only because they are laughing out loud at them and making fun of me and saying, ‘When did you become Daddy?’ So I don’t know whether that happens when you hit 50 or what, but I’ll take it as a compliment, I think,” he jokes. “Anyone who works with me knows that I am so uncomfortable even having to put on the tux. So the fact that I survive those events is still a surprise to me without looking like a total nerd.”

Muir recently reported live from Vatican City as Cardinal Robert Prevost became the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

Among his many accomplishments, the journalist helped set an all-time record of $9 million in donations raised for the World Food Program through his reporting on climate change from South Sudan and Madagascar. He was also named to the 2025 Time 100 list, honored with a tribute by his friend and mentor Diane Sawyer.