‘What could go wrong?’ Ripa, Consuelos talk co-hosting
Mark Consuelos will join wife Kelly Ripa as her new “Live” co-host nearly three decades after they first started working together.
“We figured that since we started our careers together, we might as well finish them together,” the “Riverdale” star, 51, and Ripa, 52, exclusively joked to Us Weekly. “We figured the idea ‘what could possibly go wrong?’ is something we’d definitely like to explore. Now we have the chance.”
The duo met in 1995 on the set of the ABC soap opera “All My Children,” and they married the following year. Ripa and Consuelos share three kids, Michael, 25, Lola, 21, and Joaquin, 19.
“So many wonderful moments have happened while with ABC, so it only makes sense for us to come full circle and work together once again for the show that has given us so much joy and so many years of memories,” Ripa told Us.
Consuelos, who has guest hosted many times over the years, will step in after Ryan Seacrest exits. The “American Idol” host announced Feb. 16 that the current season would be his last.
“Kelly and I have some news here. This is something that she and I have been talking about for a long time and it was a tough, tough decision. Last year, we spoke and I made the decision to make this my last season as co-host with Kelly here on ‘Live With Kelly and Ryan,’ which is bittersweet,” the 48-year-old TV personality told the audience.
While Ripa has been a mainstay on “Live” since 2001, initially co-hosting with the late Regis Philbin, Seacrest joined the show in 2017.
The pair confirmed at the time that Ripa would be joined by her husband.
“We are so aware of the importance of continuity and consistency and, like, the familial vibe that we all have here,” the New Jersey native explained. “It only makes sense to not just our viewing audience at home but our audience here within our staff, our support system, our extended family, to bring in somebody that we know and love and who’s really always been here. The only person I can think of that is capable of, you know, holding your torch the way you have held it. And that would be my husband, Mark Consuelos, in what Ryan and I are calling the nation’s weirdest social experiment.”