Kelly Ripa didn’t sugarcoat her reaction to her husband Mark Consuelos’ drastically different new haircut.
Kicking off the first episode of July 2024 on Monday, LIVE With Kelly & Mark viewers were greeted by their usual co-hosts, though Consuelos looked very different as he debuted a much shorter ‘do.
“Do not adjust your TV screens—yes, I got my haircut,” the 53-year-old joked, later adding it was a rather rare occurrence that only happens “every couple of years,” as transcribed by People. “It’s like a chinchilla!”
Opening the floodgates to criticism, his wife began rubbing his head while telling viewers, “I’ve never rubbed an actual chinchilla but I suspect this is what it feels like.”
“We should give everyone in the audience an opportunity,” Ripa, also 53, quipped. “Look at how I take it all for granted, don’t I? I take it all for granted!”
While she didn’t seem keen on his shorter style, the longtime TV personality explained that she still supports it because Consuelos “Didn’t have a choice” in the matter and that he “had to do it.”
“Yeah, I got a TV job,” the Riverdale alum shared, teasing an upcoming acting credit. “A role in a pilot, and they said, ‘Can you cut it short?’ And I said, ‘How short? … Military?’ And they said, ‘Military.’”
The duo then went back and forth, remaining tight-lipped on the production while clarifying that Consuelos is not playing someone in the armed forces and the series is filming in Atlanta.
While the July 1 episode served as Consuelos’ haircut’s big broadcast debut, the couple seemingly attempted to soft-launch his haircut on social media over the weekend.
On Saturday, June 29, the couple–who have been married for 28 years–posed for a photo later uploaded to Instagram. Alongside the sweet pic, Ripa wrote: “We are Switzerland baby 🇨🇭🇨🇭.”
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The actor also recapped the trip in a series of photos he posted to the picture-sharing app that same day, which he captioned, “Swiss life🇨🇭merci beaucoup Geneva!”
Like the couple, their Instagram users seemed torn over the new look, with one pleading with the actor, “Mark, please let your hair grow out. 😘💜.”
“Looks terrible, lol,” another wrote.
You two look like you’re having the time of your lives,” a different user added. “I like the hair Mark.”
“I hope that you have a fresh buzz cut when the show returns @instasuelos! It looks great!” a fourth exclaimed.
Someone else joked, “Just like a husband – you say, ‘grow out your hair’ and he shaves it off 😂😂😂.”
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