“Wardrobe malfunction” is one of those wonderful turns of phrase because it covers so many scenarios. Janet Jackson’s nipple getting exposed during a Superbowl performance? That’s a wardrobe malfunction. Guy at work who forgot to zip his fly after leaving the bathroom? That, too, counts as a wardrobe malfunction.
The thing about the more basic wardrobe malfunctions we experience each week is that few people are there to see it. And when nobody sees your malfunction, it’s easy to pretend that nothing happened. But what if you made such an embarrassing fashion mistake and the entire world watched it happen in real time?
For most of us, that sounds like a real nightmare. However, for talk show host Mark Conseulos, this was a reality. He experienced an extremely embarrassing wardrobe malfunction on air, but instead of letting it derail the show, he and Kelly Ripa leaned into it in the funniest way. If you want to know how it all went down, keep reading to discover every dirty little detail!
Becoming a talk show host
Mark Consuelos is married to Kelly Ripa. While he is famous in his own right, it’s certainly fair to say that Ripa is the biggest celebrity in their marriage. Moreover, she rose to fame through a lifetime of TV talk show gigs. Compared to that, Consuelos was mostly known to soap opera fans for his time on All My Children…a famous figure, sure, but not nearly as much as his wife.
How, then, did Conseuelos become a talk show host without much experience? The two married partners host Live With Kelly and Mark, a show which previously featured Ripa alongside Ryan Seacrest. Once he stepped down, Conseulos got the job. Chances are the network was gambling on Conseuelos and Ripa having enough chemistry to carry a popular TV show because they have been married for so long. Fortunately for them, that gamble paid off in a very big way!
A show powered by killer chemistry
Husbands and wives don’t always make good business partners, even if they are great romantic partners. That’s because everyone has different priorities and personalities, so it’s impossible for everyone to be on the same page all at once. Fortunately, Live With Kelly and Mark is a show primarily sustained by the adorkably cute chemistry of its two terrific leads.
As for the great chemistry, you could say this stretches back decades. The two got married back in 1995 and are still going strong. Now, we get to see the awesome rapport these two share whenever they are onscreen together, and it’s clear their love has never faded. That means these two aren’t just charismatic hosts…they’re also #RelationshipGoals!
How the couple met
We’ve covered how Kelly and Mark Conseulos have an awesome relationship, one that makes their time as cohosts so compelling. At this point, you’re probably wondering how these two even met. And that story is just as unconventional and unexpected as everything else about their relationship!
As noted before, Mark Consuelos is best known as a star of soap operas. And Kelly Ripa is best known for her career in awesome TV journalism. But she’s done other kinds of roles as well, and back in 1995, she did a screen test for the soap opera All My Children. It was at this screen test that she met Conseulos, and they clicked right away.
Things moved pretty fast from there, and the two got married only one year later. Fast forward nearly three decades and the two are still happily married. So happily, in fact, that not even a wild onscreen wardrobe malfunction can deter it!
Mark Consuelo’s onscreen wardrobe malfunction
Mark Consuelo’s onscreen wardrobe malfunction wouldn’t have been so memorable if his wife hadn’t accidentally turned it into a punchline. “We’ve got a huge show today, and I mean huge,” she said. This was extra funny because her husband’s zipper just happened to be down when she said it!
However, the two didn’t acknowledge the incident right away. In fact, they didn’t even notice it right away. And when they did, the power couple owned up to the mistake in the funniest possible way!
The famous couple was hilariously upfront about what happened
After Kelly Ripa’s unintentionally funny introduction to her husband’s wardrobe malfunction, they moved on to what she was announcing: the “Stump Mark Game” in which (you guessed it) she tries to stump her husband. This time, though, they surprised the audience at home by having a conversation while the game’s graphics were playing.
“Wait, did anybody notice that?” Ripa asked, clearly shocked. Mark Consuelos told her “no,” at which point she asked if he had “just noticed that.” Perhaps realizing that everyone could hear them, Conseulos gave up on hiding things, telling the camera that “My fly was down the whole time.”
To be clear, Conseuelos experienced every guy’s worst nightmare: his fly was down and countless people were watching. But because he and Kelly Ripa have such a strong bond and awesome chemistry, though, they could transform an awkward moment into something both wholesome and hilarious.