Kelly Ripa ended her year-long stint of solo duty on “Live with Kelly” on Monday, announcing Ryan Seacrest as her new co-host.
“Today the next chapter of the ‘Live’ story is about to be written,” the 46-year-old TV personality said on the air before she made the big reveal. “Today is a very good day.”
Moments before Ripa brought out Seacrest on stage holding his hand, she said behind the scenes talking to Seacrest off-camera, “This is it! Is your mic on? I’m so excited for you. Are you nervous? Don’t be nervous. You look great!”
Seacrest, the former host of Fox’s “American Idol” co-hosted the show several times throughout the past year since Ripa’s ex-co-host, Michael Strahan, left “Live” last May.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be here with you,” Seacrest told Ripa when he was brought out to a cheering crowd.
“Kelly and I, we’re friends. We’ve known each other for a long time and when we were told it was going to happen we were told to keep a secret,” Seacrest said, adding that he texted a few close friends saying he’s got “great news.”
Before Ripa made the announcement, she said, “I would like to thank all of the men and woman who sat next to me co-hosting with me this past year. They took time out of their busy schedules to hang out with me in the morning…they are a part of the “Live” family forever.”
Seacrest will move from his home in Los Angeles to his home in Manhattan to start the new job on the ABC morning show, but said he will often fly back to LA.
“I’m going to frequent-fly quite a bit,” Seacrest said on the show as official co-host.
Seacrest, 42, is already in business with ABC as the host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on New Year’s Eve. He also has a nationally syndicated radio show, “On Air with Ryan Seacrest.”
Minutes into the show, Seacrest tweeted, “So excited to join this show!! @KellyRipa crushes every morning… one of my favorite people ever #livekellyryan.”
A source told CNN, which leaked the news ahead of the broadcast, that the ABC building that houses “Live” will also have a new radio studio for Seacrest.
The new hosting gig will not affect his other jobs, according to CNN.
News of Strahan’s unexpected departure from the show for “Good Morning America” led Ripa to skip the show for two days in protest of the way ABC handled the situation.
When Ripa returned to “Live” on April 26, she openly discussed what had been going on behind the scenes.
“I needed a couple days to gather my thoughts. After 26 years with this company, I earned the right,” she said on the air at the time.
Strahan’s last episode with Ripa was on May 13, 2016. He had joined her as co-host in 2012 after the retirement of TV icon Regis Philbin.
Since Strahan left Ripa has had a rotating roster of celebrity fill-in co-hosts including Seacrest, Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, Fred Savage, Jerry O’Connell, and Neil Patrick Harris.
Ripa teased her big announcement Sunday on Twitter, showing herself in a video drinking from a “Live” mug with a question mark on it. The video was captioned, “We’re going to need a bigger mug.”
“I saw the question mark. You posted the question mark – hysterical,” Seacrest told Ripa.
The two closed the show with a glass of champagne each.