Kelly Ripa has hilariously revealed that she feels a special connection to dolphins.
The TV host, 53, said during the Tuesday, August 27 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark that she felt spiritually linked to the majestic mammals while on board a boat off the coast of Mexico during a friend’s 50th birthday.
The group had rented a boat for “sunset cocktails” when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by wild dolphins.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Ripa, whose husband, Mark Consuelos, cohosts the show, then detailed how the revelation surfaced. “We had just done the show in Miami, and we’d gone to the Seaquarium and I swam with the dolphins. We were doing a taped piece where we communicate with the dolphins. So I, Kelly Ripa, jump into the water and I go, ‘I know how to talk to the dolphins!’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to call them over!’” she said.
Drawing laughter from Consuelos, 53, Ripa went on to explain she felt no danger while swimming in the middle of the ocean, despite somebody in the group urging her to remain cautious.
“Our friend Brian was standing on the bow of the boat and he’s going, ‘Kel, get back in the boat. Those are wild dolphins, those aren’t trained dolphins,’” Ripa said. “But, in my mind, I thought I could talk to the dolphins because I’d spoken so fluently to them.”
The couple, who tied the knot in 1996 and share a daughter, Lola, 23, and two sons, Michael, 27, and Joaquin, 21, have previously shared their wildlife encounters on the show.
In May, Consuelos revealed details of a beach incident that saw a flock of wild plover birds attacking their entire family on New York’s Long Island.
“We’re walking along the beach this summer evening, it was sunset-y, with the kids, the kids were young and running around and the birds were there, playing with the birds. This guy was walking toward us,” Consuelos recalled. The birds then began “dive-bombing us and the children” before the approaching man confronted them.
“He goes, ‘You need to leave those birds alone!’” Consuelos said, before Ripa jumped in and said, “And Mark said, ‘Well they need to leave us alone!’”
Ripa is renowned for her hysterical overshares, revealing during the July 25 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark that she “did something backstage that was so inappropriate that, if we weren’t married, I would probably be fired right now.”
She continued: “I felt his [Consuelos’] pants, and they feel nice. But, I was like, ‘My gosh, your thighs feel like they are made out of metal or stone.’ Marble! Carved out of marble. I’m backstage rubbing up and down his thighs, like, it doesn’t even seem possible. I realize people are looking at us like, ‘Are you OK? Do you forget that you’re in a place of business?’ And, yes is the answer!”
Consuelos has cohosted Live with Kelly and Mark since April 17 2023, replacing Ryan Seacrest who filmed his final episode three days prior.
Ripa and Consuelos evidently thrive alongside one another both personally and professionally as the couple also share a production company, Milojo, which they cofounded in 2007.
