Ryan Seacrest Was ‘Terrified’ to Cohost ‘Live’ With Kelly Ripa for This Shocking Reason

Nearly six months after Ryan Seacrest marked his final episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan, the talk show alum revealed where his relationship with Kelly Ripa stands. The former costars reunited on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast on Wednesday, October 11.

“There’s no other show that feels like Live with the family of people,” Ryan, 48, reminisced. “There really isn’t.”

The American Idol host explained that while his experiences on the show were nothing short of “magical,” it was hard for him to find his footing on the program. Backstage, he and Kelly, 53, only ever had a few minutes to chat before walking out to the news desk for each episode of Live.

“Whomever you were with, you don’t speak beforehand,” he told listeners. “You go out and you just do it, and it comes together and that’s terrifying to think about if you’ve never done that before and I was terrified about that because I had never done it before. On the radio, sure, but it’s different when you’re on television and it’s 9:00 and it’s go time and it’s true. We would quickly say ‘Hi,’ and grab each other’s hands and go.”

Now, Kelly hosts Live With Kelly and Mark with her husband, Mark Consuelos, but the backstage practices have remained constant.

“It’s exactly the same,” Kelly dished on what goes on behind the scenes. “You and I, I think, had the most conversations of any cohosts I’ve ever had backstage, as much as they tried to keep us separate.”

Both TV stars admitted that there were many instances where they chatted backstage and were told to “save it for the show.”

“I kept saying, ‘Guess what? Ryan and I are friends. We have a relationship and we can actually recreate this moment on camera and it’s fine,’” Kelly recalled. “That’s just the way it was always done. That’s the way they always did it, so the fact that you and I would communicate off camera or behind the scenes or before the show — Or after the show, or we would see each other out of work and send everyone into a tailspin.”

In addition to remembering their days sharing the stage on Live, Ryan gushed over his upcoming Wheel of Fortune hosting gig. The media personality will be taking over hosting duties from Pat Sajak next year for season 42 and is excited to join cohost Vanna White.

“She’s such a part of our lives, isn’t she?” he said of his new costar. “I mean, you think about Americana and you think about comfort and you think about these franchises. She’s such a staple for all of us.”