Ryan Seacrest Misses Second Day in a Row of ‘Live With Kelly and Ryan’ as Andy Cohen Guest Hosts Again

Ryan Seacrest was missing from Live With Kelly and Ryan for the second consecutive day this week, with Kelly Ripa being joined by guest co-host Andy Cohen in the studio on Tuesday morning. Cohen joined Ripa on Monday as well.

The show’s official Instagram account shared its usual pre-show video of Ripa walking from backstage onto the set just ahead of going live. While she’s usually joined by Seacrest, Tuesday’s video showed her and Cohen walking out together. “We’re live with guest cohost [Andy Cohen]!” the Instagram video was captioned.

While there’s no official word as to why Seacrest sat out Monday and Tuesday’s episodes, it appears as if he is filming for the upcoming season of American Idol. Earlier this week, he posted a photo from a rooftop adorned with a giant Idol logo. “Tried to catch the sunrise but I think it overslept,” he joked in the caption. On Monday morning, he shared a photo of himself sitting on what appears to be a production set somewhere in a hair and makeup chair. “Working hard or hardly working?” he quipped.

Tuesday marks the third time this month that Live With Kelly and Ryan has gone on without one of its eponymous hosts. On Dec. 3, Tamron Hall sat in for Ripa, who missed the taping due to a special reunion with her husband Mark Consuelos. He had been in Vancouver filming The CW’s Riverdale; because of travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus, he was unable to see his family for several weeks but returned home earlier this month.

As for Seacrest, this week’s absences became the third time in recent months that he has missed filming. He missed two tapings in September after falling ill with a “sore throat.” He took a little R&R at home in line with coronavirus protocols and Ripa made history hosting the talk show by herself for the first time. Seacrest again missed tapings in October after he developed a mild cough and did not return until the results of his COVID-19 test returned negative. Ultimately, he returned two days later after his test results were in.