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Swifties, get ready to be “Enchanted” by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos. USA TODAY can exclusively reveal that the Daytime Emmy-winning “Live!” hosts will recreate Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s fun-filled day at the US Open for the talk show’s annual Halloween special, celebrated for its pop-culture references.
Back in September, Swift and Kelce attended the tennis tournament in New York, making waves for singing and dancing along to The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” as the rock tune blared over the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center speakers. Swift enthusiastically strummed an air guitar in a gingham Reformation dress that matched her signature red pout. Kelce matched her energy in a quirky Gucci bucket hat and cardigan. Reviewing his outfit on his podcast New Heights, the athlete said, “It makes me feel like (Mr.) Magoo,” the elderly animated cartoon character with terrible eyesight.
Ripa, in a checked gown with cat-eye sunglasses and soft waves, captures Swift’s essence, but Ripa’s not convinced she nailed the part.
“Nobody gives less Taylor vibes than me,” she says, modestly, in an interview, seated beside her co-host for the last 18 months and husband of 28 years. “I’ve known Taylor Swift since she was a young teenager and first appeared on our show many, many, many years ago,” says Ripa, 54. “And she’s been on our show many times, and in every era of her life. She is just as charming and divine and delightful, and all of the things that you think she is for all of these years. I can’t capture the essence of that in a very brief clip of her dancing at the US Open, but I did my best to at least not embarrass her on behalf of both of us.”
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After all, not everyone can sport red lips without worry. “I just am so afraid of getting red lipstick on my teeth, red lipstick everywhere. I don’t want it to go outside of the lines,” Ripa says. “So I become almost immobilized by just the near presentation of red lips.”
Consuelos, 53, also struggled with his thick mustache, as fake as his Gucci hat courtesy of the “Live” costume closet. “We don’t typically keep real Gucci there,” Ripa jokes.
Consuelos says he and Kelce have yet to cross paths, but the Super Bowl champion “seems like a great guy and he’s funny.” But “Who knows? He may see it and (be like), ‘Who’s that short guy trying to come off as me?’
“They did have to stand me up on some boxes, which was pretty funny,” Consuelos reveals.
Ripa chimes in: “Both of us have such height disparities with regard to these actual people that they had both of us on boxes.”
For the show, themed “Only Halloween in the Building,” the hosts will don dozens of costumes.
“I hosted ‘SNL’ once in my life (in 2003), and I always say our Halloween show is the closest thing to hosting ‘SNL’ that there is to actually hosting ‘SNL,’” Ripa says. “You come out, you do your live opening bit, then you throw to a taped piece. You run backstage while that taped piece is playing, then they go to commercial break. You’ve got the taped piece and two minutes to change hair, makeup, wardrobe, costume, everything. You’ve got a very small window of time to get back out there and do the next segment. And that’s how the show runs.”
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As Consuelos’ concerns about last year’s Halloween show (his first) subsided, so have his fears about his daytime gig. Consuelos replaced Ryan Seacrest in April 2023 when the new “Wheel of Fortune” host departed “Live” after six seasons.
“I think a year and a half in, I finally feel like I kind of have my sea legs, not so anxious before a show starts or an interview is going to happen,” Consuelos says. “Because that used to terrify me, especially if it was somebody really famous. I kind of clammed up. Now I’m a little more comfortable interjecting a question or two.”
Ripa couldn’t be happier with her husband’s performance. “He’s truly just utterly enjoyable to watch,” she says, drawing a wide grin from her counterpart. “I find myself watching him during the show, almost like I’m watching TV, and it’s really just a pleasure to work with him. He makes us feel very safe and protected and energized, and he’s given us all sort of a new lease on this place.”
