After a six-year run, Ryan Seacrest is stepping down from his co-hosting slot on Live with Kelly and Ryan after a six-year run. However, Kelly Ripa will still be in good company, as her husband Mark Consuelos will be taking over co-hosting duties.
Seacrest, Ripa and Consuelos all joined Vanessa Hudgens on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday (March 12), where Seacrest revealed how he’s feeling about the change. “It’s bittersweet,” he shared. “We have such a great relationship and friendship and working relationship. Mark is going to take over and he and I have the same kind of relationship. It’s going to be an exciting last few weeks.”
Ripa added with a smile, “Nothing will really change between the three of us. It’s just that Ryan will get to have his coffee later.”
To wrap things up, Consuelos revealed that he’s officially beginning his gig as co-host on April 17. “I couldn’t be more honored or excited,” he said.
In a statement announcing his departure last month, Seacrest — who will keep hosting American Idol, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, his syndicated On Air with Ryan Seacrest daily radio show and the American Top 40 countdown — said working with Ripa has been a “dream job” and one of the highlights of his career.
“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 said, also thanking the show’s executive producer Michael Gelman and the 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. It’s been a memorable ride and now I’m excited to pass the baton to Kelly’s ‘real’ husband, Mark.”
