Kelly Ripa finally announced her new co-host on Monday, May 1, 2017. First, she thanked all the men and women who sat beside as guest co-hosts during the last year. After a little tease at the top of the show and a commercial, she introduced Ryan Seacrest. It was Ripa's 21st wedding anniversary, and now she has a new TV husband.
The 46-year-old wife and mother of three has had guest co-hosts since Michael Strahan left the morning talk show last May. According to Kelly, this begins the next chapter of the "Live" story to be written. The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Seacrest is not only a co-host, but he is also an executive producer of the daytime talk show.
That means he will have about the same level of power over the show that Ripa has.
There was not as much fanfare with the announcement as there was when Kelly ran into the arms of Michael Strahan when he became her co-host. The show's name is now "Live with Kelly and Ryan." Their first guest was Chris Pratt, who had been a guest co-host during the last year. He was there to promote his new movie "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" that will be in theaters on Friday. At the end of the first show, Kelly and Ryan shared champagne together.
About Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest is no stranger to television. In fact, he is considered to be one of the world's best-known broadcasters that people seem to love and respect.
He has already had practice working with Kelly because he was a guest co-host five times over the year while ABC was looking to fill the full-time position.
The 42-year-old new co-host was the host of Fox's "American Idol" for 15 seasons for which he received an Emmy Award nomination. He shared the first season co-hosting with Brian Dunkleman that started on June 11, 2002.
From Season 2 until the series went off the air after Season 15 on April 7, 2016, Seacrest hosted alone.
Seacrest is already a busy man, but he is up for the job and will continue to lead his nationally syndicated radio shows for iHeartMedia. It has been reported that ABC is building a new radio studio for him in New York. The busy Seacrest has recently renewed his contract to host red carpet specials for NBCUniversal's E!
network. Since "Live with Kelly and Ryan" is based in New York, the new co-host will move to there, but he will keep his house in Los Angeles.
Guest co-hosts
From Monday, May 16, 2016, until April 28, 2017, Ripa hosted the show with guests co-hosts by her side. There were 68 celebrities from the entertainment world who sat beside her. Some co-hosted only once, but others co-hosted multiple times, included Ripa's own husband Mark Consuelo.
