In addition to reuniting with her co-hosts, she also opened up about what it was like dropping out of 'Dancing With the Stars.'
Jeannie Mai has officially returned to The Real after recovering from the emergency throat surgery she underwent earlier this month.
The TV host reunited with fellow co-hosts Adrienne Hough, Garcelle Beauvais and Loni Love for Tuesday's episode, giving the ladies an update on how she's been doing the past few weeks.
"You don't understand, I want to group hug everybody!" Jeannie, 41, exclaimed. "You guys kept me company every single day. I've never really watched our show from the couch, you know what I mean? So I was able to binge-watch everything. I played along the games with you guys, I loved glam every day. It was so good."
"Yo, I'm ready to be back here working every day," she continued. "I'm, like, kissing everything. I'm ready! Anybody out there who knows what it's like to be sick, where you can't do anything. You can't talk, you can't move ... it's the worst feeling ever. So I really thank you guys for holding it down and just keeping me company. And Real fam, I've got all of your messages. I'm back. Long-winded is in the house. Do something 'bout it, she's back!"
Jeannie also opened up about how she realized during this time that she's been prioritizing work over her health. As fans of hers know, in addition to taking some time off from The Real to recover, Jeannie also had to drop out of Dancing With the Stars.
"We already know how precious health is, but I am a workaholic, and I do prioritize my work more than my health," she admitted. "In this situation, I absolutely kind of just thought, taking a steroid shot, or just taking Theraflu or Dayquil would help cover it, because I was in a competition, yo, and I was not going to let down. I really took that too seriously more than my health, and then God taught me a lesson."
"So the part of getting sick wasn't the upsetting part; it was actually just being depressed, because I let myself get to this," she continued. "For the last few weeks, I gotta be honest, I was pretty upset at myself because everything ended. I stopped shooting my favorite talk show every day and I had to step out of a competition, which is, I feel like I was doing good and I could have stayed in the running. But I had to give up!"
Jeannie competed with pro dancer Brandon Armstrong during the dance competition show's 29th season, which came to an end Monday night. The TV host was in the ballroom to witness the announcement of the new mirrorball champions, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Artem Chigvintsev.
"I was thinking about where I was a year ago, exactly," Artem told ET moments later. "Where I was not a part of last season, how I felt that [my] old dancing dreams were done and dusted, and that I was never going to be able to perform on that stage at all. And then just standing with Kaitlyn in the final and being called as the champion of the season? I mean, it was such a surreal moment that I never thought it would be, in the reality of this world."
"I don't even know how to put it into words," Kaitlyn added, of her unique journey. "But to me it's like, if you believe in something and if you have a passion or a dream ... when you think of anyone who's gotten somewhere, I guarantee they have a story about what it took to get there."
Hear more in the video below.
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