Half of the “Live with Kelly and Mark” duo is missing.
On Wednesday, Mark Consuelos, 52, hosted the talk show without his wife and co-host Kelly Ripa, 53. Instead, he was joined by longtime “Live” announcer, Déjà Vu.
The pair addressed Ripa’s absence right away.
“Yesterday you could tell she was losing her voice a little bit – it’s gone, it’s lost,” Consuelos said.
When Déjà Vu asked if Ripa is okay, he continued, “Yeah, she’s gonna feel better, she’s just resting a little bit. I’m sure she’ll feel better soon.”
Later in the show, Consuelos also added that he “was quarantining” away from Ripa, so he “didn’t get the laryngitis.”
Ripa and Consuelos have been co-hosting the show since April, after longtime host Ryan Seacrest left, and moved on to “Wheel of Fortune.”
At first, the married couple had a shaky start, with viewers criticizing their onscreen rapport.
After Ripa played a recording of Consuelos snoring in bed during an early April episode soon after he joined the show, the audience was unimpressed.
“Remember the days with [original co-host] Regis [Philbin] when REAL social & news issues were discussed? NOT ‘Bedtime eating & sleeping habits,’ or ‘We’re we walking or jogging in Central Park,” or many other mundane things that were conversed about! Big fail!!” one fan fumed on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“So you guys will talk about your marriage and life at home all morning,” another blasted them. “Maybe you two need a reality show.”
A third fan said: “Kelly Ripa is an a–hole playing her husband snoring. I’m so done with this show.”
However, as “Kelly and Mark” found its footing, audiences stuck around.
The October 31 episode even snared 2.9M viewers, making it the most-watched Halloween episode in four years, according to Nielsen data. According to “Live with Kelly and Mark,” the Halloween show was the most viewed of any daytime talk show – network or syndicated – since March of 2022, and “Live” has ranked No. 1 among all syndicated talk shows for 60 weeks.
So, despite early viewer skepticism, “Live” founds its audience – even if it has now temporarily lost its co-host.
This isn’t the first time Ripa has been absent. Previously, she’s taken the occasional sick day. She was even absent for three episodes within two weeks over the summer.
A source told Page Six at the time that she was using some of her “scheduled days off” which is “totally normal during the summer.”
At one point, the couple’s friend Anderson Cooper filled in for her.
The Post reached out to “Live with Kelly and Mark” for comment.