Kelly Ripa Set Up For Another Betrayal With Ryan Seacrest Hosting ‘American Idol’?
Kelly Ripa’s new Live! co-host, Ryan Seacrest, is about to get even busier now that American Idol has been picked up by ABC. The owners of the reality talent competition show want Seacrest to host the show, which was presumably a big part of the deal that was closed with the network.
ABC will make a formal announcement next week about obtaining the rights to broadcast American Idol in a reboot next March. The overwhelming consensus among the top brass and owners of the show is that Ryan Seacrest is the franchise, TMZ reports. Given the fact that Live! is filmed in New York and American Idol is taped in Los Angeles, Seacrest will have to fly back and forth three times a week. Saying he’s a bi-coastal star is an understatement. He’ll be on a tight schedule and will have less than four hours to get back to New York in time to prepare to go on the air with Kelly Ripa.
Will Ryan Seacrest’s American Idol gig interfere with his hosting duties alongside Kelly Ripa on Live!? She was betrayed once when ABC kept her in the dark over Michael Strahan leaving the show for Good Morning America. American Idol will be demanding for Seacrest — not to mention the $73 million deal he just signed with iHeartRadio on the same day it was revealed he was Live!‘s new co-host.
Radar Online reports that special arrangements will be made for Seacrest on Live! when he begins hosting American Idol. He and Ripa will be pre-taping Friday morning’s show on Thursday so he can hop on a private jet and get back to L.A. for American Idol. One reason for this has to do with ABC not wanting to “exhaust” Ryan after just signing his multi-million dollar contract, according to a source.
“Some Fridays will be live on the morning show, but not every one. They clearly want to make sure they don’t exhaust Ryan in his new $15 million a year job!”
A prior report by Radar Online claimed that Ryan Seacrest wasn’t Kelly Ripa’s first choice. An insider alleged that Ripa “preferred someone less well-known. She wanted someone that she could boss around, and that isn’t Ryan.”
Lodge #News:’American Idol’ Goes to ABC with Ryan Seacrest the Likely Host #trendinghttps://t.co/WAKPDBERS4
— LODGE MUSIC PRODUCER (@LodgeXLodge) May 7, 2017
Sources are also claiming that Kelly has already been “betrayed” by ABC because they supposedly hired Ryan to co-host Live! because they wanted to lock him down for American Idol, and that it had nothing to do with bringing in big name guests for the morning show.
The logistics of Ryan’s work schedule were an issue when he agreed to be a Live! co-host.
“It was easy for me to say I wanted to work with Kelly, but the complicated part was that I have a job – and jobs – on the West Coast. And this show is obviously live from the East Coast every day. So we had to figure out if this would really work. What are the logistics? That was really the big issue.
“We had a conversation about shooting in Los Angeles. It didn’t last long.
“I’ll be going back and forth, and doing everything that I have to do. I have a home back in L.A. and my dog is there.”
As TMZ reported, Seacrest would get on a jet Sunday night, get four hours of sleep, arrive in New York and head to the studio to tape Live! with Kelly. He would rush to the airport, fly back to L.A., and repeat the routine; the same goes for Tuesday. On Thursday, he and Ripa would tape the Friday segment of Live! before getting on his jet and flying back to L.A.
Ryan Seacrest Could End Up Hosting the New ‘American Idol’ via @TMZ https://t.co/Jfp77SoB1N
— d-rock trot (@drocktrot) May 6, 2017
Although Radar Online reports that “special accommodations” are being made for Seacrest by taping Friday morning episodes of Live!, TMZ reports that Kelly has been taping Friday segments of Live! on Thursdays for a long time, so it’s not a new procedure.
[Featured Image by Disney/ABC]
