Kelly Ripa to announce Live! co-host

Kelly Ripa will announce her new ‘Live!’ co-host on Monday (01.05.17).

The 46-year-old television presenter has been hosting the talk show with a slew of guest stars since her co-host Michael Strahan left the programme for a presenting job on ‘Good Morning America’ almost a year ago, but she has now announced the search for a permanent presenter is over and will be revealed on Monday’s show.

Kelly broke the news to her fans when she took to Twitter on Sunday (30.04.17) to share a video of herself drinking from a ‘Live!’ branded mug with a question mark drawn on it.

The blonde beauty said in the video: "Tune in tomorrow. Trust me."

And the short eight-second clip was captioned: "We’re going to need a bigger mug. #TuneInToLive #BigAnnouncement #LiveKellyCohost (sic)"

In September, Kelly and the ‘Live!’ crew embarked on the search to find a co-host from members of the public when they opened up a competition for a fan to win the chance to host the show alongside Kelly.

Speaking on the show at the time, Kelly said: "The moment you’ve all been waiting for … You, that’s right, you could be co-host. That’s right, here!"

Detailing what viewers had to do to enter the competition, a post on livekelly.com read: "Submit a video pitch demonstrating why you have what it takes to sit next to Kelly Ripa … and in the entry form make sure to tell us all about yourself in 100 words or less!"

The ‘Marvin’s Room’ actress has previously enlisted the help of stars such as Jimmy Kimmel and Joel McHale to guest co-host the show.

Meanwhile, it was previously claimed Michael – who had been Kelly’s co-host for four years before his departure – and Kelly had managed to resolve their differences in the interest of an amicable split.

A source revealed: "Kelly realised her issue wasn’t really with Michael, but the network. Are they best friends? No. But there definitely is some peace."