Silke Jasso
Welcome to the show, Ryan Seacrest!
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On Monday, “Live! with Kelly” host Kelly Ripa shared the exciting news that the search for a full-time co-host is finally over!
Things on “Live!” were pretty rocky after Michael Strahan announced he was leaving the show to take on a full-time gig on “Good Morning America” last year. When the news was first made public, Ripa caused a scene by extending a pre-planned vacation to “process” the news. Strahan was initially set to depart from “Live!” in September 2016, but after all of the drama, his official last day was May 13, 2016.
After Strahan said goodbye, Ripa spent the last year going through guest co-host after guest co-host including returning fan favorites, Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Savage, Carrie Ann Inaba, Busy Philipps and “Live with Kelly and YOU” winner, Richard Curtis.
Now the revolving door of co-hosts is in the past and Seacrest is in the hot seat!
Just before she made the announcement, Ripa took to social media with several teasers to get fans pumped for the news.
During the show, Ripa announced the news by first coming out onstage solo and addressing the audience.
“I would like to thank all of the men and women who sat down and co-hosted with me for the past year,” she said, adding that they are all now family to her. She also thanked her fans for their support during the year.
When they finally came onstage together, Seacrest was all smiles sitting in his new co-host chair.
“Good morning! Nice to see you,” he said before kissing his new co-host on the cheek. “Kelly and I were friends, we have known each other for a long time and when we found out about this, we were told to keep it a secret.”
He shared that when he told close friends and family about the new gig, they asked if he was engaged, married, having a baby or coming out of the closet! They also played an LOL-worthy video of himself ducking down in the car on the way to the studio.
It’s a wonder that they were able to keep it a secret for so long.
“Live! with Kelly” airs weekdays at 9 a.m. ET on ABC.
Getting to know TV’s Kelly Ripa
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