‘Everyone is excited’: Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos share desert memories ahead of Palm Springs area taping

If you ask daytime talk show hosts and married couple Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos about Palm Springs, they can’t stop themselves from gushing about the desert oasis.

Lucky for them, they’ll soon have an even better reason to do so when the “LIVE with Kelly and Mark” crew comes to the Coachella Valley to film a few episodes. The series will tape four shows on Nov. 10 and 11 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Palm Springs.

Tickets can be requested at https://1iota.com/show. The show will be taped at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Nov. 10 and 11.

Ripa and Consuelos spoke with The Desert Sun ahead of their visit to share their favorite memories from Palm Springs and what they plan to showcase for viewers.

Earliest memories of Palm Springs

Some of the earliest memories the couple share include dreaming about coming out to the Palm Springs area and soaking up the sun. Ripa and Consuelos met in 1995 on the set of the soap opera “All My Children” and married the following year.

Their true love affair with the desert came about 10 years ago when they visited for the first time. Ripa said they attended a birthday party at the Merv Griffin Estate, located in La Quinta, and were mesmerized by the beauty around them.

“We were just gobsmacked by how beautiful it was, by the perfect weather, the crystal blue skies, the mountains, the people, everybody was in a good mood, the fruit trees. Everything about it appealed to our sensibilities,” she said. “Every opportunity we got to go back, no matter for how brief, and it was always brief, always a two-day trip, a 24-hour trip, we would leap at the opportunity to take it just because it meant more to us to be there than the travel time to get there.”

That trip led to subsequent visits, including several mentions of their vacations on their talk show. Consuelos said the family went to the desert for a two-week spring break vacation to “see if we like Palm Springs for more than 72 hours,” and it was “heaven.”

Ripa said they did every touristy thing under the sun: They visited art galleries, took tours of the city’s architecture, went to downtown Palm Springs’ weekly VillageFest and took photos by the Forever Marilyn statue.

When asked what their favorite spots in the city are, they mentioned the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Workshop Kitchen+Bar, the modern Mexican pop-up Hoja Blanca inside Truss & Twine and lounging by the relaxing Hermann Bungalows.

“This is one everyone is excited about,” Ripa said of the Coachella Valley taping. “Sometimes we’ll do remotes, and it seems like, oh boy, logistically this is going to be tough, or wow this is going to be a lot of work. Everybody universally is excited about coming to Palm Springs.”

Golfing, hiking, pickleball, oh my

The series will film on the Westin Rancho Mirage golf course, which Consuelos is beyond thrilled about.

“I’ve asked the director if in between commercial breaks I can start hitting,” he said with a grin. Consuelos added he will play some rounds with actor Jerry O’Connell.

Prior to filming in front of a live audience, the two hosts will pre-shoot a couple of segments from locations around the valley and participate in various activities that locals love, such as hiking and playing pickleball. Fans will also get a sneak peek at their future lives in the desert, they joked.

“We’re trying to show what our retirement will look like. His days occupy golfing. Me learning to play bridge. Us hiking together. You golfing more,” Ripa said. “We’ve got our whole lives mapped out, we can almost see it.”

Guests are also planned for the show, but no names have been released yet.

“LIVE with Kelly and Mark” has previously filmed in Las Vegas; Niagara Falls; Banff, Alberta, Canada; Walt Disney World Resort; Disneyland Resort and the Bahamas. Ripa, who has been a “Live” co-host since 2001, said she always looks forward getting out of the New York studio and seeing fans all over the country. With Palm Springs in particular, she believes everyone, from her husband to the show crew to the viewers at home, will enjoy taking in desert living.

“The people of Palm Springs cannot be more welcoming, loving, open to everything, enthusiastic, friendly, kind,” Ripa said. “I think it’s a little slice of what we need right now. Palm Springs is such a palette cleanser for America.”