Kelly Ripa can’t stop gushing about her husband Mark Consuelos getting tapped to serve as her next co-host on ABC’s morning talk show, Live With Kelly and Ryan.
Following news of Ryan Seacrest’s departure from the program after six years, the Emmy winner, 52, revealed she is looking forward to working alongside her 51-year-old spouse, who she met back in 1995 while starring on soap opera All My Children.
‘Mark and I owe everything we have in our professional lives to ABC. We met there at the beginning of our careers and got married and had our kids while there,’ she told Us Weekly.
The mother-of-three continued: ‘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.’
The couple, who share three children Michael, 25, Joaquin, 19, and Lola, 21, have been happily married after eloping in Las Vegas after less than a year of dating.
Better together: Kelly Ripa can’t stop gushing about her husband Mark Consuelos getting tapped to serve as her next co-host on ABC’s morning talk show, Live With Kelly and Ryan (pictured in April 2022)
Her interview came just one day after a source told DailyMail.com exclusively that ABC executives were ecstatic when Ryan Seacrest decided to quit.
ABC has reportedly long wanted Ripa to team up permanently with Consuelos on the show and are convinced that ratings for the show will skyrocket.
‘ABC has been eager to replace Seacrest with Mark,’ an insider told DailyMail.com. ‘Mark and Kelly have TV magic. Viewers can’t get enough watching the sparks between them whenever he fills in for Ryan.’
‘They wanted to capitalize on that, so there weren’t exactly tears shed when Ryan started talking about leaving,’ one high-placed television source explained shortly after the ubiquitous personality made his announcement on Thursday’s Live with Kelly and Ryan.
Seacrest had missed several shows without explanation, Yahoo News reported, irritating producers.
Consuelos revealed in an Instagram story that he had been called in to do the January 30 show ‘at the last minute’ and when Seacrest returned the next day he gave no explanation for his absence.
Occasionally the show’s resident DJ Déjà Vu has filled in on short notice for Seacrest when Consuelos was unavailable.
‘His time has just come. He did his bit when he came in to replace Michael Strahan and has done a fine job for six years. And ABC has always appreciated that.
Whirlwind romance: Ripa and Consuelos met on the set of the ABC’s long-running soap opera All My Children back in 1995, and wed just a year later
Real-life chemistry: ABC has reportedly long wanted Ripa to team up permanently with Consuelos (R) on the show and are convinced that ratings for the show will skyrocket
Statistics show just how popular Consuelos is when he appears with his wife. Tweets mentioning the show spiked 243% on January 30 when he was filling in. There were also big spikes on February 15 and September 26 last year when he appeared.
Still, Live is the highest-rated daytime talk show, regularly watched by around 2.3 million people.
On Thursday’s show Seacrest said: ‘I made the decision to make this my last season on Live with Kelly and Ryan – which is bittersweet.’
He did not go into any detail as to what had made up his mind to move on to new pastures on air.
Later he said in a statement: ‘Working alongside Kelly over the past six years has been a dream job and one of the highlights of my career.
Busy as ever: Seacrest, 48, plans to move to Los Angeles where he will continue to front American Idol. He will also stay on for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve; seen in June 2022
‘She has been an amazing partner, friend, and confidant, and although we will always be a part of each other’s lives, I will miss our mornings together.’
He also thanked executive producer Michael Gelman and the show’s crew. ‘We’ve made memories to last a lifetime, met some of the most incredible people and had the warmest welcome into the homes of so many viewers across America,’ he said.
‘It’s been a memorable ride and now I’m excited to pass the baton to Kelly’s ‘real’ husband, Mark.’
Seacrest, 48, plans to move to Los Angeles where he will continue to front American Idol. He will also stay on for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
He will remain on Live through the spring but next season will be replaced by Consuelos, 51, and the show will be rebranded Live with Kelly and Mark.
Seacrest, 48, plans to move to Los Angeles where he will continue to front American Idol. He will also stay on for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
He will remain on Live through the spring but next season will be replaced by Consuelos, 51, and the show will be rebranded Live with Kelly and Mark.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk