Grant Ellis fielded some intense questions from Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on Live with Kelly and Mark on Monday, where Ripa got “right into it” with the Season 29 Bachelor.
“I’m going to kick off with my usual question,” Ripa, who often hosts Bachelor franchise stars on the show, teased to her guest. “I’m sure they prepped you for me. Thirty-one years old, look at this guy. Gorgeous.”
Consuelos added, “Good-looking guy. Tall.”
Ripa continued, “Former pro basketball player. Why are you on a dating show? I could get you married in three minutes. I could get you married yesterday, a week ago, six months ago.”
Consuelos teased that they could match Ellis up “by the end of the show,” while Ripa claimed they “could have a melange of women here” ready for him.
Consuelos added, “And some men.”
Ellis eventually got the opportunity to explain himself, sharing that he “was in a seven-year relationship,” and afterward “was single for a while” in order to “focus on [him]self.”
“And then my mom, she saw The Golden Bachelor, and she signed me up,” he shared.
“For The Golden Bachelor?!” Ripa asked.
Ellis clarified that his mom signed him up for The Bachelorette, where he competed for the affections of Jenn Tran (she later chose Devin Strader, but they later split).
“That’s when I was like, I’m going to do it,” he explained. “Might find my person, might not, but that’s how it happened.”
Ripa quipped, “Either way, it’s going to launch your TV career. Because look at that face! That’s ridiculous.”
During Tran’s own July 2024 appearance on Live, Ripa had insisted that the “drop-dead gorgeous” reality star “could meet anybody anywhere, at any time,” claiming that she could find a suitor in real life. Tran fired back by asking where the two co-hosts and former All My Children co-stars met, ultimately asking, “On TV, no?”
While a production source assured DECIDER at the time that the banter was all in good fun and that everyone loved the interview, Ripa caught some heat from Bachelor alum Ashley Iaconetti, who claimed on the July 11 episode of her Almost Famous podcast that Ripa “loves to pick at The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.”
Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.