It feels like forever since we’ve seen Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest sit side-by-side on the Live with Kelly and Ryan set. However, after ten months of filming the hit series six feet apart, the duo is back to sharing one tiny desk.
On Monday, producers of the morning show teased the return of the normal seating arrangement on their show’s official IG account. “Can you guess what this means?!! Tune in tomorrow,” they captioned the shot of an empty desk and chairs on the stage.
As expected, the 50-year-old TV personality and her 45-year-old co-host were back to sitting right next to each other on Tuesday’s installment. (Yup, no more social distancing for Ripa and Seacrest.) Earlier today, the account shared its daily backstage clip from the episode, featuring the co-hosts getting used to their new setup. “Reunited and it feels so good!” the post’s caption read.
In the clip, we see both Ripa and Seacrest examining the desk and chairs. In fact, the American Idol alum even questions if the furniture is new, asking, “Is this what we used to use? Wow, I totally forgot.”
“It's Tuesday, June 1, 2021,” the mother of three says in the vid. “This seems awfully close. I feel like this is a level of intimacy where we really should be wearing protection. This is unprecedented closeness.”
As pointed out by one of the producers on the series, the duo was cleared to sit adjacent to one another because they are both fully vaccinated. And while we’re happy to see things are slowly returning to normal, the new setup is definitely going to take some getting used to.
Welcome back, you two.
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