Kelly Ripa quickly came to the defense of her husband, Mark Consuelos, during Monday’s episode of LIVE. The co-hosts discussed the topic of walkable cities following their Fourth of July break from the show.
However, the conversation sparked a noticeable reaction when an audience member expressed their disapproval with a telling gesture. The couple responded to a recent survey that named Philadelphia the nation's most walkable city, but Kelly disagreed with the results.
© NBC"What? I mean, I'm a big walker in Philly. I'm from south Jersey, so I know the area well, but I'd say it's less of a walking city than New York," she said. "It's not a grid. It's all over the place."
Mark continued reading out the list, with cities like Providence in Rhode Island, Burlington in Vermont, and Columbus in Ohio taking the top spots. As Mark mentioned Columbus, applause could be heard from the audience in the background.
© NBC"Really? Really? You know what I think is a nice, walkable city? Ann Arbor," he said. "Not Columbus, Ohio."
Kelly’s gaze then shifted off-screen as she locked onto one particular audience member. "Did you just give us the thumbs down, lady? What are you, from Ohio?" she asked.
"Columbus," shouted the audience member in response to Kelly's question. The co-hosts then continued their conversation and shared that their home of New York City landed the tenth spot on the list.
© NBC"I like cities where you can walk," Kelly shared as she rounded off the segment. "Listen, I walk around Los Angeles. It's a weird experience, because to me it's such a walkable city, and yet nobody walks there. So, you have to ask yourself, why is nobody walking?"
Last week's episode
This isn't the first time Kelly has targeted an audience member live on air. During Thursday's installment of the show, the star responded to a fan who shared that she had used artificial intelligence to assist in ending a relationship.
The couple were discussing a national survey that showed at least 41 percent of young adults have turned to AI to help them break up with their partner. "Artificial intelligence is now writing, 'It's not you, it's me' texts for Gen Z to break up," Mark said.
During the conversation, Mark looked up at an audience member named Ashley and addressed her directly. "I see somebody laughing right there!" he said.
© ABC"Have you done it? You did it?" Kelly asked.
"Ashley, wait, you broke up with somebody with the help of AI?" she added.
"Kind of," responded the fan.
Kelly and Mark were stunned at the revelation and replied with "wow" and "incredible" respectively.
