It isn’t often that Kelly Ripa or her husband, Mark Consuelos, see something that has never happened before on Live with Kelly and Mark.
Today, Kelly and Mark were rendered speechless over this happening, and it was so much fun to watch it all unfold.
After the host chats every weekday, Kelly and Mark have their contest. It has morphed into a Stump Mark trivia contest where the contestant tries to stump Mark with one lie and one truth. He has to guess the truth.
If the contestant wins, they get a mug, then they play for a trip or a consolation prize if they cannot answer the question. Usually, the show calls the contestants from wherever they live, and the game continues.
However, things were not typical today, and Kelly and Mark are shocked at this “First” for Live, as they call it. It has not happened before, and the show is in Season 29.
Mark likes to win his Stump game and has come up with some tricks, like when he researched for the game and had a list he hid in his crib notes in his shirt. But this was nothing like that at all, this time the producers surprised Kelly and Mark.
Kelly and Mark couldn’t believe what was happening during the Stump Mark segment
Today, Kelly set up the game by saying, “It’s time to play Stump Mark!” As Mark butchered saying the guest’s name, Tabitha Blumen from Washington, Pennsylvania, a phone rang in the studio.
Looking up distractedly, Kelly said, “Someone has to disconnect their phone.” They start looking around, and then a voice says “Hello” from the audience. Kelly and Mark go crazy. They ask if it’s a joke as Mark stands up and almost falls over from the shock.
Michael Gelman explained to Kelly and Mark how the game works: they call someone randomly to be on the trivia segment. Today, for the first time, the contestant had tickets to the show that day.
Tabitha explained to Kelly and Mark, “I was walking to the show from my hotel when they called.”
The show posted a photo on their Instagram reel to commemorate this incredible first.
The game went on like usual, except it was face-to-face, and as Kelly put it, “It’s like seeing your teacher in the summer!”
Live with Kelly and Mark’s ratings are the highest in almost three years
This week was full of surprises for Kelly and Mark. They announced at the end of last week that the show was going to LA to film shows after the Oscars; then, they announced that they were moving to Vegas to film four shows in February.
Kelly had a good night when she was called onstage to judge dancers with Madonna, and now this first happened with the Stump Mark segment.
More good news dropped from Deadline. Live with Kelly and Mark is getting watched more often than any other syndicated talk show. It averaged 2.7 million viewers per episode for the week of January 15, 2024.
Deadline reports that this makes that week with Live the most watched syndicated talk show week in almost two years. Congrats Live! Keep up the excellent work.
Live with Kelly and Mark airs weekdays on ABC.