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Kelly Ripa Co-Host Search Timeline: Why Is It Taking Forever And When Will It End?

By Erika Miranda
Published on: 19:59 PST, Dec 4, 2016

The Kelly Ripa co-host search appears to be taking forever and many are already wondering, “When will it end?”

Kelly Ripa has had a total of 50 guest co-hosts since Michael Strahan left their show Live! for Good Morning America in May, The Wrap reported.

Because this has gone on for a total of seven months now, New York Daily News is now saying that the whole search for a Kelly Ripa co-host is a “gimmick” to rake in more ratings for her show.

According to the outlet, the show’s ratings skyrocketed to over 3.4 million viewers since Ripa shared the stage with 50 different co-hosts after they “booted” Strahan from the show who apparently wasn’t due to leave until the end of summer 2016.

“Hey ABC, how about having a little more respect for your viewers by dropping this ridiculous hunt to find Kelly Ripa a co-host,” the report read, explaining that while the search had become a big thing, it was more sensationalized than an actual thing.

Since Strahan was removed from/left the show, a lot of people have been wondering who the new Kelly Ripa co-host would be and the show appears to have taken advantage of the curious crowd.

Ripa, an American actress and dancer-turned-talk show host, has stepped up her game after the Strahan kerfuffle.

Last week, during a game on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, she was jokingly tasked with finding a co-host among dozens of guests — from Billy Bush to the Kardashian sisters to Lindsay Lohan — who would have chemistry with her on stage.

But while there is not much to look for considering that Ripa herself had already been handling the show pretty well as it is now known as Live! With Kelly, it appears as though the favorite Kelly Ripa co-host who joined the show is Anderson Cooper, whom had been a personal favorite of the hostess herself.

While speaking with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live last Wednesday, she even described Cooper as “the one that got away.”

“He’s my life. He really is. He’s the one that got away and keeps getting away and gets away all the time.”

As cited by the Hollywood Reporter, her interview with Cohen about Cooper on the show also revealed that they have no idea when the entire Kelly Ripa co-host search will finally end.

“We really didn’t set a time frame for ourselves. We just wanted to wait until we found the right person.”

“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,” she added.

So far, the biggest contenders for the position according to The Wrap based on the show’s ratings aside from Cooper are Jimmy Kimmel who raked 3.3 with Kelly on May 16, Jussie Smollett with 3.1 on May 17, and Cedric the Entertainer and Smollet who tied with a 3.0 rating.

But according to New York Daily News, this is all a ruse to get more ratings.

“It’s a charade and a gimmick, Ripa is doing fine on her own and while she says her top choice would be pal Anderson Cooper, he’s already got a job.”

While we aren’t sure what to make of it all, we are positive that the search for a Live! Kelly Ripa co-host will continue for quite some time. It will only end when they finally decide to make the random guest co-host the show’s theme or when the audience finally decides not to watch the syndicated daytime TV show.

Do you believe that the Kelly Ripa co-host search is just a gimmick? Sound off your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images]

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