The Real Reason Mark Consuelos Agreed to Co-Host "Live" Will Surprise Fans

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After more than a year of being a co-host on Live With Kelly and Mark, it's hard to imagine a time when Mark Consuelos wasn't sitting alongside wife Kelly Ripa on daytime TV. Well, the idea of him joining the ABC series almost didn't happen, and fans will be surprised to learn what made him actually decide to do it.

The Riverdale alum appeared on the April 17 episode of his wife's Let's Talk Off Camera podcast, where he and Ripa dove into the beginnings of them hosting Live after Ryan Seacrest's exit in April 2023. As Consuelos explained on the podcast, when he was approached about the job, both he and Ripa immediately wanted to turn down the idea.

"So, when they asked me, we both said, 'No, this is insane. We can't do this,'" he stated, per Entertainment Tonight. "And then we started talking about it, I remember us talking about it. I'm like, 'No, you know, no.'"

Although the couple's initial reaction was that Consuelos should not take over Seacrest's former co-host spot on Live, Consuelos revealed that eventually he and Ripa started to break down the pros and cons. As he shared, there was one major benefit to accepting the hosting gig, and his explanation may make folks emotional.

"One of the key deciding factors for me was over the past seven years leading up to, you know, this past year I'd been gone so much," he noted. "I'd been, you know, in different countries, different states, on a damn airplane every week if not twice a week. Sometimes I'd come see you for 24 hours and get back on a plane and go back to work, and so I was kind of tired of living by myself. I don't sleep well when I'm away from you. I literally don't sleep."

Eventually, as fans know, Consuelos decided the best decision for him would be to host Live alongside Ripa, and the pair marked their first TV anniversary on April 17. And as fans continue to obsess over the duo's dynamic on live television, Consuelos notes the decision was easy because of Ripa.

"There's no way I would've decided to say yes to doing this job if it wasn't you sitting next to me and I'm not just saying that because it sounds great," he concluded. "There's just no way I would've even...I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't. There's no way."

Well, here's to many more years of seeing Kelly and Mark together on Live!

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