Kelly Ripa Has Never Shied Away From Criticizing ‘Bachelor’ and ‘Bachelorette’ Stars: A History

Kelly Ripa never shies away from speaking her truth on TV, especially when it comes to The Bachelor and The Bachelorette franchises.

The Live With Kelly & Mark cohost raised eyebrows in July 2024 when she and season 21 star Jenn Tran got into an awkward discussion about why Tran would want to be on the reality show.

“I have a question. Where did you meet your husband? On TV, no?” Tran asked Ripa, referring to cohost Mark Consuelos, whom she married in 1996 after they met while filming All My Children.

Ripa insisted the two shows “are not the same,” quipping, “Are you acting on your show? I didn’t marry [Mark’s character] Mateo Santos. I married Mark Consuelos.”

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The banter caused a stir among several Bachelor Nation stars, but a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Ripa “asks the questions that people would want asked, it’s part of what makes the show great.”

The insider added, “The show’s numbers have been up since Mark has been cohosting, the back-and-forth is good for the show, it opens up the conversation and that’s what they’re trying to accomplish.”

Ripa’s remarks toward Tran ruffled a few feathers, and it’s not the first time the talk show host has expressed issues with the reality franchise. Take a look back at Ripa’s history with Bachelor Nation below:

‘Is It the Alcohol?’

“I’m looking at you, you are gorgeous. You seem perfectly normal, why are you doing this to yourself?” Ripa asked season 10 Bachelorette, Andi Dorfman, during a May 2014 appearance on Live With Kelly and Michael.

Dorfman joked, “25 guys, I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” to which Ripa claimed, “They’re not good enough for you.” As the women continued to talk, Ripa teased Dorfman about her past on The Bachelor, saying, “What was that like? Ugh. I suspect it was dreadful.”

Ripa then inquired about why “everybody is sobbing” on the first night of the show, after just meeting the man. “Is it the alcohol?” she asked.

“People don’t realize how long that first night is,” Dorfman said, explaining that shooting goes into the next day. Ripa teased, “You’re leaving in the daylight, in a gown. It’s like a 25-person walk of shame.”

Ripa Gives Warning

After meeting Nick Viall during a February 2017 episode of Live With Kelly, Ripa expressed concerns over Viall’s suitors. “I was reading some of this stuff, some of these facts about the selection of girls you have to choose from,” Ripa told the season 21 star. “So, one girl is 25 years old and still has a nanny [Corinne Olympios]. You need to run away! You need to run, OK?”

She joked, “Another girl showed up in a shark-dolphin costume [Alexis Waters]. I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but, again, you need to run.”

Ripa insisted, “I think that you need to try to find love outside of TV,” pointing out, “We used to meet, like, at the club or at work. … Go to the bars!”

The Arie of It All

Ripa was one of many viewers who questioned Arie Luyendyk Jr.’s decision to dump Becca Kufrin on season 22 of The Bachelor after proposing to her in the finale. When Luyendyk then started to date his runner-up, Lauren Burnham, and proposed on the After the Final Rose episode, Ripa was confused.

"I wanna understand everything — your thought process,” Ripa said to the former Bachelor during a March 2018 episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan, before asking Burnham, “What’s wrong with you?"

Ripa didn’t mince words. She drilled Luyendyk, who has since married Burnham and welcomed three children. "What are you thinking, how did this happen, were you as shady as I think you are now?" she asked at the time. “This didn’t just happen overnight.”

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When cohost Ryan Seacrest asked, “You were in love with two women at the same time. Isn’t that a red flag in some way?” Ripa interjected and told Burnham, “It’s a red flag for you!”

Years later, Luyendyk confessed that his interview with Ripa still rubs him the wrong way.

“I was always a fan of hers until I was the bachelor,” he wrote in the comments of Us’ July 2024 Instagram post about Ripa’s chat with Tran. “Felt like I had my back against the wall whenever I was being interviewed by her.”

Escape Artist?

Just months after Luyendyk’s breakup with Kufrin aired on TV, Kufrin appeared on Live With Kelly and Ryan to talk about her journey as the season 14 Bachelorette.

“Becca, let’s get into it. You had escaped. You escaped. I mean, what is the matter with you?” Ripa said during the May 2018 episode moments after Kufrin came out on stage.

Kufrin replied, “I had to fall in love again. I had to follow my heart.” Ripa would hear none of it and reiterated that Kufrin has “escaped” the series.

A Soft Spot for Colton

When Colton Underwood appeared on Live With Kelly and Ryan in January 2019, Ripa confessed, “I will say of all the Bachelors I’ve hugged, that was not so terrible.”

She wasn’t as kind about Underwood’s choice to become The Bachelor lead for season 23. “You seem like a very capable, normal, handsome, you seem smart … Why must you go on a show where it seems like everybody is robbed of everything except alcohol?” Ripa asked.

Underwood fired back, “Have you seen dating apps these days? It’s just as crazy.” Ripa then argued that he was “lovely” and she insisted, “What I’m trying to say is, you don’t have to do this.”

The former football player didn’t take the banter seriously, telling Us in May 2019, “I obviously know that Kelly doesn’t like the show. I don’t know. I was on there. I think there’s some mutual level of respect. We’re all, we’re both on ABC, so I don’t take it too personal.”

Underwood noted that Ripa’s public dislike of the franchise “isn’t that big of a deal, it just got blown out of proportion.”

What About Female Empowerment?

“You guys, you know how I feel about the show, it disgusts me,” Ripa told her viewers during a May 2019 episode of the talk show. “I can’t stand the idea of 25 exceptional women fighting over one ordinary fella, in my opinion. You know how I feel, ladies, we are too special to be arguing over a guy.”

Ripa expressed those same concerns to Hannah Brown when she appeared on the show that month, promoting her journey as the season 15 lead.

“I am very against women fighting over a guy. I don’t believe in it. I think it’s — you know, weird and sets us back,” Ripa told Brown at the time. “But now, you are in the power position. So take me through that. How does that work?”

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Brown argued that the series is not about “women fighting against each other.” She revealed, “Some of my best friends came from the show and were really supportive. When you have a group of 30 people together, there’s going to be people who don’t like each other. That’s just simple facts.”

She added: “It was one of the most empowering things that I ever did because I had to grow as an individual. That is why I decided that I wanted to be the Bachelorette. That’s why I wanted that so bad.”

They All Look Alike

Ripa confessed that after meeting Peter Weber, the season 24 Bachelor, earlier in 2020, she had no clue who he was. “I gotta be honest … what I remember about him is that he split his head open [on the show],” she told Seacrest in March 2020. “If you lined up, again forgive me, if you line them all up in a line I would not be able to identify any of them.

TV Faux Pas

Ripa took a slight jab at The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner in November 2023 when he visited Live With Kelly and Mark. “You did this thing that we’ve watched so many Bachelors before you do, you dropped the L word on more than one woman,” she said, teasing him about telling two women he had feelings for them.

“What happened? You just got carried away?” she asked.

Turner was amiable about the interrogation and his missteps.

“There’s a certain Bachelor tradition that you need to keep alive with every season and stepping in a bucket is one of them,” he said.

It’s Not a Soap Opera!

“You’re drop-dead gorgeous,” Ripa began her July 2024 conversation with Tran. “You could meet anybody anywhere, at any time. Why, why, why?”

After Tran inquired about how Ripa met her husband and poked fun at it being on TV, Ripa stated, “We were both professional,” insisting that she was playing a character not trying to find love on a reality show.

Despite the tension on camera, an Entertainment Weekly insider explained that “Ripa and Tran were ribbing each other during the conversation,” and “the interview was well received on both ends.”

Bachelor Nation star Ashley Iaconetti, however, took offense to the discussion, slamming Ripa for her “ax to grind” with the franchise. “Every time we have a lead go on the show to promote it, she always seems to be so skeptical of — a little bit of the lead, and their decision to be the lead — and also just the process,” Iaconetti said during a July 2024 episode of her “Almost Famous” podcast.

Cohost and former Bachelor Ben Higgins noted that Ripa “definitely doesn’t like the show,” joking, “I don’t know if they, like, denied her the Bachelorette role at some point.” The season 20 lead said that Ripa’s dislike of the franchise “makes for an awkward interview.”

Days later, Tran addressed the “noise” surrounding her exchange with Ripa, telling Jason Tartick on his “Trading Secrets” podcast, “Honestly, I will say, Kelly and I, it was all in good fun.”

Tran added, “We have this sarcastic banter. I could tell the vibes, you know. I didn’t take anything she said to heart. I think it was all really in good fun.”