Kelly Ripa Opens Up About New ‘Live’ Co-Host Search After Michael Strahan Exit, Her Dream Hire
Kelly Ripa’s “Live” co-host search is far from over. In April, Michael Strahan announced that he would be leaving the show to co-host “Good Morning America.” Rumors swirled about the nature of his exit as well as who might replace him on the ABC talk show.
While the position remains vacant, with temporary guests filling his shoes daily, Ripa hasn’t given up on finding a replacement. During an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” with host Andy Cohen and fellow guest Anderson Cooper — both of whom were rumored to be taking the “Live” job at one point — Ripa opened up about her dream hire. She jokingly told viewers that Cooper, who hosts “Anderson Cooper 360” on CNN, is “ the one that got away.” Still, her search wages on with no end in sight.
“We really didn’t set a timeframe for ourselves, we just wanted to wait until we found the right person,” she said, reports People magazine. “What we didn’t anticipate was that we would have such an outpouring of interest, so our list got very long very quickly. So we’ve been trying to keep it as narrow as possible, but then people pop up.”
In addition to the many options she’s been presented for potential co-hosts, it seems Strahan’s abrupt exit from “Live” has also been a contributing factor in the long, drawn out process. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Disney/ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood admitted that Strahan’s departure was not properly handled. While he was not interested in giving the topic too much more life, he told the publication that the way things played out created tension on the set.
“We made some mistakes,” he said. “We fixed them quickly and we moved on.”
Sources told Entertainment Tonight that Ripa had decided to take her time searching for a new co-host, having various celebrities on the show in that time. Sources told the publication that neither she nor the network was “in a hurry” to find someone. Ripa was promoted to executive producer on the show and was said to be happy with the way things were going.
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