One half of Live with Kelly and Mark‘s lead hosting duo was absent from the show’s latest episode.

After starting off his week on the daytime talk show, Mark Consuelos did not appear alongside his wife, Kelly Ripa, on Tuesday, July 29. Instead, Jerry O’Connell temporarily took over his spot at the hosting desk.

According to Kelly, Consuelos found himself “stuck” at the airport for several hours yesterday after initially leaving to catch a flight at noon. “He’s working on a show out in L.A.,” she explained to viewers.

Consuelos’ original flight was eventually canceled due to an engine problem, while his rescheduled flight was canceled due to a “body problem” with the plane. “He was booked onto another flight. It was supposed to take off at 7:30, and at 9:30, he finally called me and said, ‘We’re getting ready to take off,’” Ripa said before joking, “I don’t know if he arrived. I hope he did.”

Ripa hinted that Consuelos will be absent from Live for the rest of the week while revealing that he misses their dog more than her. “He was more emotional about leaving Lena. The leaving Lena and the texting me, ‘How’s Lena? Is Lena okay? Does Lena miss me?’” she quipped. “There was lots of reassurances with Mark that,’ Yes, Lena does miss you. Yes, I put your shirt in her crate so that she doesn’t forget you for five days.’”

O’Connell, for his part, was excited to take on the hosting gig, having wrapped up his run on The Talk back in December 2024. Looking to take advantage of New York City’s walkability, O’Connell shared that he walked to the show’s studio that morning — only to arrive soaking wet because of the hot weather.

“I sweated out a — I’m not even joking — a Hawaiian Punch I drank in 1983. That’s how hot it was,” he said before showing a snap of what he looked like when he arrived to work. O’Connell’s hair stuck to the sweat on his face, while his shirt featured several sweat stains.

Despite the rough start to the day, O’Connell praised Live‘s hair and makeup team for getting him presentable to appear on-air. “It is the soupy season in New York,” Ripa joked. “People have a fine musk to them.”

She added, “I did not walk here because I feel like our audience has suffered enough.”

Consuelos’ Live absence comes the same day as the premiere of his and Ripa’s new show, Running With the Wolves. The four-part ESPN docuseries follows the couple’s journey of becoming owners of the Italian soccer team Campobasso F.C.

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