Kelly Ripa Doubles Down on 'The Bachelor' Criticisms

By Daniel S. Levine

Kelly Ripa once again shared her thoughts on The Bachelor, which she believes can hurt young women early on in their careers because of how they are portrayed on the show. The Live with Kelly and Ryan co-star has been a vocal critic of the two-decade-old franchise in the past, even though it airs on the same network as her show. In 2019, she even called the show "gross, gross."

In a new interview with Variety published last week, Ripa made it clear that she's still not a member of Bachelor Nation. "I feel The Bachelor takes women early on starting out in their careers and pits them against each other," Ripa said. "And at times, can get them into a position where they may be unhirable because of the way they may be portrayed."

However, Ripa is a fan of Bravo's The Real Housewives franchise. Since the casts for those shows usually feature women in middle age, Ripa believes they give them the platform to start their own businesses at an age when some may feel "discarded." The show "gives them a platform where they are able to start businesses," Ripa said. "You name it, the Housewives gives them that platform."

Ripa previously ripped The Bachelor franchise back in 2019, when she and Ryan Seacrest mentioned that Hannah Brown would be on to talk about becoming the next Bachelorette lead. "Oh, it's an entirely different person?" Ripa said, mistaking Brown for Colton Underwood's then-girlfriend, Cassie Randolph. "You guys, you know how I feel about the show, it disgusts me," Ripa told the audience.

"I can't stand the idea of 25 exceptional women fighting over one ordinary fella, in my opinion," Ripa further explained. You know how I feel, ladies, we are too special to be arguing over a guy." The former All My Children star went on to call The Bachelorette "just as creepy" as The Bachelor. "Having said that all of you women watch that gross, gross show," Ripa told the audience.

A few days later, Underwood told Us Weekly he thought Ripa's comments weren't that big a deal. "I obviously know that Kelly doesn't like the show. I don't know. I was on there. I think there's some mutual level of respect. We're all, we're both on ABC, so I don't take it too personal," he said. "It really isn't that big of a deal, it just got blown out of proportion."

Of course, Ripa didn't need to go on a dating show to find the man of her dreams. She just needed to star in a soap opera! Ripa and her All My Children co-star Mark Consuelos have been happily married since 1996 and have three children. Consuelos will soon replace Seacrest as Ripa's co-host on Live.

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