Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Had the 'Greatest Thanksgiving of Our Lives' by Skipping This Key Tradition
- - Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Had the 'Greatest Thanksgiving of Our Lives' by Skipping This Key Tradition
Dave QuinnDecember 1, 2025 at 11:15 PM
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Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos on 'Live with Kelly and Mark' on Monday, Dec. 1
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos just discovered the secret to a perfect Thanksgiving: don’t host it.
On the Monday, Dec. 1-episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, the couple revealed that instead of spending the holiday cooking, prepping and setting an elaborate table, they flew to London to visit their daughter Lola, checked into a hotel and let someone else do all the work.
"I’m going to brag: we had the best Thanksgiving ever," Ripa, 55, announced. "We got outta town. We went to London to visit our daughter and we went to a hotel for Thanksgiving. And guess what? It was the greatest Thanksgiving of our lives. You know what? The dinner just arrived and then when it was done, it was cleared away!"
Consuelos, for his part, joked that his Thanksgiving wasn’t too far off from his usual holiday routine. "My experience wasn’t different than any other year," the Scream 7 actor, 55, said with a laugh. "I just showed up and was an honored guest and it was great."
But for Ripa — who normally handles all the planning, cooking and cleanup — it was transformative.
"At a certain point, I got up and started clearing plates, and [our daughter] Lola was like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I go, ‘I… I don’t know?’ " she said. "I’m like an old horse. You get into a routine and it’s like, ‘Oh, dinner’s over, I better start clearing plates for dessert.’ And dessert just arrived and it was heaven."
She showed a photo of their elegant table setting and gleefully pointed out, "Guess at who didn’t set that table? Me! I didn’t set it!"
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos show off the London hotel dinner table at which they celebrated Thanksgiving
Ripa and Consuelos's daughter Lola, 24, moved oversees a few years ago. Joining her parents for the holiday getaway was their eldest son Michael, 28. (Joaquin, 22 —the couple's youngest son — was working, they said).
During the trip, the family soaked up the festive London atmosphere, Ripa and Consuelos raving about the city’s holiday decorations on Monday's show.
"They really know how to decorate for the holidays," Ripa said, showing photos of sparkling city streets. "Come on guys, look at that! I got so excited, I forced Mark into taking a picture of me!"
Michael and Lola Consuelos
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They also took in some culture, seeing All My Sons starring Bryan Cranston in the West End. And celebrated the season too with a visit to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, a carnival celebration that Ripa bought tickets to in advance in order to secure their spot.
"It was good, it was really fun," Consuelos said.
But nothing beat that Thanksgiving dinner — so much so that Ripa boasted about it to guests Minnie Driver and Kyle Richards later on in the show.
"You gotta go to a hotel, they do it all for you!" Ripa told Richards, adding to Driver, "The hotel made the dinner, they cleaned it up, they served it. I had the greatest experience of my life!"
Live with Kelly and Mark airs weekdays on ABC (check local listings).
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
