Ryan Seacrest Missing From Monday's 'Live With Kelly and Ryan' as Andy Cohen Guest Co-Hosts
Live With Kelly and Ryan was short a co-host Monday as Ryan Seacrest was absent from the morning [...]
Live With Kelly and Ryan was short a co-host Monday as Ryan Seacrest was absent from the morning talk show. It is unclear why Seacrest was absent Monday, though his place was filled by Andy Cohen, who joined host Kelly Ripa for the broadcast, during which Ripa's husband, Mark Conseulos, was set to make an appearance.
Seacrest's absence from the show was confirmed by Live producers, who shared a pre-show clip to the show's official Instagram page. In the seconds-long video, Ripa and Cohen could be seen leaving the dressing room, with Ripa introducing Cohen to coffee man Dan. Cohen also teased the news on his own account, sharing a photo of himself heading to the studio. He captioned the image, "On my way to co-host with [Kelly Ripa]! See you on TV!" Cohen said that he would be co-hosting on Tuesday as well.
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This marks the second time this month the morning talk show has gone on without one of its hosts. On Dec. 3, Tamron Hall sat in for Ripa, who missed the taping due to a special reunion with her husband. Conseulos had been in Vancouver filming The CW's Riverdale, and due to restrictions in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, had been unable to see his family for several weeks during production.
Monday's show also marked the third time in less than four months that Seacrest has been absent. He missed two tapings in September after falling ill, the American Idol judge revealing at the time that he was experiencing a "sore throat." As he took part in a little TLC at home, Ripa made history, as it marked the first time she had hosted the talk show by herself.
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Seacrest again missed tapings in October after he developed a mild cough. Due to increased safety precautions amid the pandemic, Seacrest could not return to the show until the results of his COVID-19 test came back. Ripa explained in a video, "we have all of these new restrictions now, so this is one. We have to wait until he comes back negative before he can get in here." Seacrest returned two days later after receiving negative test results.