Whispers: Who Is Kelly Ripa's New Host?

Who is Kelly Ripa’s New Co-Host?

If there is one woman who really has it all, it’s America’s favorite morning show host, Kelly Ripa. She has the handsome successful husband and business partner, Mark Conseulos, three beautiful children, Michael, Lola, Joaquin, the family dog Chewy, a successful television production company, Milojo, and an Emmy Award Winning TV career.

Yet, the most impressive personality trait Ripa possesses is her self-deprecating, humble personality. Case in point, Ripa recently hosted the 14th annual Super Saturday event alongside screen star, Emma Roberts. This season Jimmy Choo sold out in minutes and Ali Ro, founded by designer Kathleen McFeeters, was a huge hit! Ripa took the time to personally address each and every individual media rep on site. Several hours and hundreds of interviews later, Ripa is still just as perky and personable as the first interview. Ripa is one of the rare celebs who innately puts their ego aside and has the ability to make others feel extraordinary. It’s this same rare quality that makes fans want to watch her in action alongside Regis Philbin every morning for the past decade. Now, 10 years later, Philbin is preparing to “move on.” No, Philbin is not retiring.

Ripa admits the transition won’t be easy for her but, it’s time, “I don’t think he wants to have to be on the camera at 9 a.m. everyday and I don’t blame him. He has been doing that variety of program for over 40 years. He deserves to be doing whatever he wants and he has given America so much of himself.” The million-dollar question is, who will be Ripa’s new co-host? Male? Female? Established following? Unknown comedian?

As of now, the industry buzz for Philbin’s seat has generated a list of potential co-hosts that include Bravo TV’s Andy Cohen, Michael Strahan and even hubby Mark Consuelos, but Ripa insists, the seat is still up for grabs! “We are open to everyone. I was not a chat show host. I was an actor and had never done anything close to that.” As the search for her co-host continues, Ripa has other projects to focus on, she is teaming up with her husband to produce a new reality series titled “Dirty Soap,” which premieres September 25at 10 p.m. on E! Entertainment Television. The reality series concept is the first of its kind, “We are following the lives of real life soap stars. It’s a world we know very well, inside and out.”

Mr. and Mrs. Consuelos are no strangers to soap operas. The couple met and fell in love while working together on, “All My Children”—Ripa joked, “We even had our children on a soap.” Now, just like Mama Ripa, celebrity and non-celebrity moms love to bring their children to Super Saturday. Why? Because Mom gets to shop for bargains while her kids are entertained. “We bring all the games, it’s $100,000 worth of games, the best video games, shooting games, and racing games.” For the past six years Elvira and Jim Grau, founder of Space Odyssey, a 26,000 square foot indoor playground for kids and event space in New Jersey, has recreated a mini version exclusively for Super Saturday. It’s a wonderful way to bring everyone out from New Jersey, from wherever, to come to the Hamptons and support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Thanks to the help of the Graus, Ripa, Roberts, hundreds of volunteers and designer donations Super Saturday raised more than 3.5 Million Dollars to benefit OCRF.

Gina Glickman Giordan is a TV Host, News Correspondent, Executive Producer and founder of GMG Entertainment. Watch Giordan’s exclusive celebrity interviews and event-life coverage series, “In The Mixx,” on People Magazine TV, Hamptons Magazine TV, Dan’s Tube and www.InTheMixxShow.com.