Yahoo News Kelly Ripa begins “Live” with special audience warning: 'Do not put 100 live snakes down your pants'
Ripa said she would like to install a "snake scanner" to check for reptiles down audience members' pants.
Kelly Ripa just slithered into a Live cold open as chilly as the scales of a reptile, as the beloved talk show host kicked off Wednesday's episode with a stern warning to audience members.
"I want to get right into it," the 53-year-old said, looking out toward the audience. "If you are traveling, please do not put 100 live snakes down your pants and try to sneak them through customs on an airplane, because I might be on that airplane."
Before she could add context, Ripa's on-air cohost and real-life husband, Mark Consuelos, also 53, tapped her on the shoulder to ask, "What would you do?" to which Ripa replied, "I would jump out of the airplane."
Ripa eventually explained that her State-of-the-Live-Audience presidential address was inspired by a recent headline that alleged a man traveling from Hong Kong to mainland China was reportedly caught with "six drawstring bags" containing 104 snakes in his pants, she said.
ABC; Getty
Kelly Ripa; Close-up of viper"If you are going to put 100 live snakes down your pants and sit next to me, you have to know that I know how to open that emergency door in the middle of the flight," Ripa added, with Consuelos quipping that maybe the reptilian companions were the man's "emotional support snakes."
Consuelos then invoked the 2006 cult movie Snakes on a Plane, asking, "Didn't Samuel L. Jackson say something about snakes on a plane?" with Ripa then inviting the actor to the morning show to "recite that famous line only, 'down the pants'" instead.
Luckily, Consuelos recently revealed that all men have "innate" Terminator-style vision to detect things on other people, so Ripa can rest assured for all future travels.
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The cohosts later traded jokes about a potential snake infestation at Live, with Ripa suggesting that "we should start scanning people here" for illegal reptile contraband. "I would like there to be a snake scanner from now on," she joked.
Ripa's latest word of caution about air travel follows her husband's admission on the May 28 episode that his crotch often sets off airport security machines.
"Every time I go through the metal detector, they go off," Consuelos said at the time. "It shows, like, stuff, in the front area."
Live With Kelly and Mark airs weekdays in syndication. Check your local listings for showtimes in your area.
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