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Kelly Ripa reveals the challenge of hosting with Mark Consuelos and their children: 'I can't do it anymore'

The Live with Kelly and Mark hosts are also parents of three

Kelly with her husband Mark Consuelos
Ahad Sanwari
Ahad Sanwari - New York
Senior WriterNew York
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Kelly Ripa was the newest guest on Rob Lowe's podcast Literally!, where they spoke about his star-studded recent 60th birthday bash, including karaoke, celebrity guests, and seating charts.

Rob told Kelly that all of the credit for planning went to his wife Sheryl Berkoff, who he surmised must've spent "hundreds" of hours getting all the tiny details right.

He particularly praised her for nailing down something as deceptively simple as a seating chart, which was something Kelly, 53, could relate to as she thought back to hosting family dinners herself.

"I have done the seating chart for the Ripa-Consuelos Thanksgiving for the past twenty years," she began, to which Rob, who saw what was coming, immediately went: "Oh god."

"And let me tell you something," she continued. "I said to Mark [Consuelos], 'This year we have to move…or we have to be traveling on Thanksgiving, I can't do it anymore'. And that's just two families!"

She expressed her sympathy for Sheryl, joking: "You can't sit too many Academy Award winners at one table, that just feels too bougie. You have to mix it up!"

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Kelly has often shared details of her family Thanksgivings over, featuring her husband Mark, their three children, Michael, Lola, and Joaquin, plus their families and friends, sometimes also including their close friend David Muir.

In a 2021 segment of Live (back when it was Live with Kelly and Ryan), the World News Tonight anchor opened up about his own plans for the holiday and trying to put a meal together himself, saying: "We are a smaller group coming for Thanksgiving this year, and I'm going to cook," before adding: "But Kelly has offered to be the back-up plan."

MORE: David Muir and Kelly Ripa have the sweetest friendship: all the details

Ryan Seacrest threw his own vote of confidence behind that decision, adding: "She's a good back-up plan," as David continued: "I have not mentioned that to the family because they'll just go straight to plan B!"

Kelly and Mark sit behind the desk on Live© ABC
"I said to Mark [Consuelos], 'This year we have to move…or we have to be traveling on Thanksgiving, I can't do it anymore'."

Kelly gave her own two cents on the proposal, saying: "Plan B is totally catered, because I have no time this year. I'm not even messing around. I'm not even pretending to bake a pie."

MORE: Kelly Ripa showcases blossoming baby bump in fresh-faced photo taken over a decade ago

That same year, the All My Children star spoke with her oldest Michael on the show about past Thanksgiving mishaps, recalling one incident which took place when the kids were still quite young.

Kelly and Mark with their children © Instagram
Kelly and Mark with their children

"It was the year that I did the Martha Stewart brining of the turkey," she started. "I put the turkey in the oven, I rotated it around and you're supposed to bathe the turkey in the juice. And to me it didn't look right, but I just assumed it was the brine and I was a novice."

MORE: Kelly Ripa and daughter Lola could be sisters in sweet celebratory photo

"I didn't realize that half of our oven had gone out, there was something wrong with the burner. So half of the turkey was cooked and half of it wasn't."

Kelly Ripa with her sons and daughter © Instagram
Kelly has often played the host for family Thanksgivings over the years

Ryan teased her son, now 26, by gesturing to him and asking if he came out unscathed in all of this, and Kelly quipped back: "I always keep a spare turkey breast on hand, just in case!"

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