Kelly Ripa Still Hasn’t Found A ‘Live’ Replacement One Year After Michael Strahan’s Exit

It’s been a year since Michael Strahan famously revealed he was leaving “Live! With Kelly and Michael” for a full time position with “Good Morning America.” However, his former co-host Kelly Ripa has not yet found a permanent replacement for him.

Strahan announced he would be leaving “Live” in April 2016, in favor of a full-time position on “GMA” beginning in the Fall. The announcement not only stunned viewers who enjoyed watching him and Ripa together, but Ripa herself. She was reportedly “blindsided” by the news, and took a week-long hiatus from the show after the announcement to “process” the news of her co-star’s departure. When she returned, she admitted that the time away helped her gain more perspective on the situation, and that she was happy for Strahan.

“...I needed a couple of days to gather my thoughts. After 26 years with this company, I earned the right...In that time I gained some perspective, I always speak from the heart. I didn’t want to come out here and say something I might regret,” she said at the time. “...I am thrilled for Michael, I am thrilled for you. This is a tremendous opportunity and I couldn’t be, and we couldn’t be prouder of you and everything we’ve accomplished together.”

However, despite Strahan initially planning to stay on the show through the fall, he appeared on his final episode of “Live!” in May. Since then, Ripa has had 67 total guest co-hosts, including her husband, Mark Consuelos, several times. Others who have co-hosted a large number of times have included Anderson Cooper, Christian Slater, Fred Savage and Jerry O’Connell. However, there has still not been a permanent replacement, and the show has remained as “Live! With Kelly.”

In September 2016, it was reported that Ripa was putting off the search for a permanent co-host, but would likely announce one in November. That deadline also came and went with no replacement, and in December, Ripa admitted that there wasn’t really a timeline for finding a permanent host.

“We really didn’t set a timeframe for ourselves, we just wanted to wait until we found the right person,” she said at the time. “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.”

Since the now infamous breakup of the two former co-hosts, it appears both shows have suffered in ratings, according to E! News. In the fall of 2015, with Strahan as a co-host, Ripa’s show pulled in an average 2.7 syndicated household ratings. One year later, the show has fluctuated from an average 2.4-2.5 rating. “GMA” has suffered in viewership however as well, dropping from 4.92 million viewers in December 2015 to 4.72 million in December 2016. However, there have been peaks in Ripa’s show at times with some of her co-hosts.

For now, it’s unclear if she will ever decide on a permanent co-host, so we’ll have to keep enjoying the revolving door of different faces for now.