Kelly Ripa was named one of the most powerful people in media by The Hollywood Reporter in 2014. With accomplishments that include a twelve year stint acting on All My Children as Hayley Vaughan, another role on the sitcom Hope and Faith, co-starring in a popular morning talk show for the last seventeen or so years and running her own production company alongside her husband, Mark Consuelos entitled Milojo, is it any wonder that she’s achieved so much?

A hard worker, her accomplishments and accolades are well deserved as she is indeed a success. On her Live talk show, she started out with Regis Philbin to rave reviews. Audiences couldn’t get enough of the adorable and intelligent new co-host. She took the spot of previous host Kathie Lee Gifford and ran with the opportunity. When it was time for old Regis to hang up the mug and microphone for good, a replacement was called upon, and a good one at that.

Enter Michael Strahan. Strahan, an NFL defensive end for the New York Giants, set the record for the most amount of sacks in the 2001 season. The charismatic ex-football star was elected to join Kelly as co-host on Live and he filled the position to stellar reviews. Unfortunately, Strahan left the show in a storm of controversy, leading Kelly to find a new co-host in American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest. Now Seacrest has his own controversy due to recent allegations, and may need to run for the hills.

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This left the audience to wonder, would Michael ever come back? We wonder the same thing, and if anything, maybe these 15 pictures will help him make up his mind.

15 Impression On The Audience

As it turns out, Kelly isn’t all that well liked when most of her demographic are concerned. As it stands now, she and Ryan Seacrest, her current co-star, are the least liked pairing the daytime show has ever seen! This leads an inquisitive mind to wonder, why are people still watching?

A valid question, considering that Q Scores Company, a company that polls about celebrities, their shows and their familiarity, rated Kelly vs. Seacrest with a 76-50% with fans 50 years old and older, and Seacrest vs. Kelly with a 57%-48% with people between the ages of 18-34. The results are startling to say the least. Ratings and familiarity were much higher when Michael was on the show. Many have wondered if Kelly’s reaction to Michael’s departure didn’t have more of an effect on her own popularity.

14 A Gorgeous Pair

It isn’t any wonder why the ratings were so high when Michael was on screen alongside the daytime beauty. Aside from the dynamic chemistry the two displayed, both of them, well … looked pretty darn good on camera.

Let’s face it… the two of them are very good looking individuals. Kelly with her beautiful blond hair and her penchant for physical fitness looks like Barbie incarnate. So let’s be honest, people probably like to watch a pretty face in the morning over coffee and bagels. And as for Michael, he came to the screen at just the right time. With people like Dwayne Johnson and Terry Crews at the height of their popularity, audiences everywhere love a big strong dude on screen, so what better co-host for Kelly?

13 Grandstanding

When Strahan left the show he was definitely painted in a bad light. It seemed as though he was leaving one show to go onto a better, more powerful one. He claims that this wasn’t the case and he was just seeking the better decision for himself as far as his newfound broadcasting career was concerned.

But to answer a question we explore later on, as it turns out yes, Michael and Kelly’s relationship was also considerably strained. Strahan claims that he considered Ripa a friend and she taught him a lot, but he didn’t appreciate that his leaving was made into such a “big thing” by his soon to be ex-cohost. Her failure to appear on the show after his announcement was a form of grandstanding according to Michael and it made the situation that much worse. Maybe the above picture can have Michael remembering old times, but who knows?

12 Was The Football Star Overshadowed?

We can now understand if Michael was overshadowed by Regis, but was he overshadowed also by his co-host? This is a glaring question and one that indeed carries a lot of weight. The fact that Michael just up and decided to leave the show so abruptly brought with it a lot of questions, and led many to wonder, did Ripa’s successes on and off the show cause Michael to feel a little under-appreciated?

Of course nobody can negate the fact that Strahan had many enormous successes of his own, the NFL Hall of Fame being a big one, but for him, was the position he found him in enough for him? Was there really anywhere for this star to go? The questions can go on and on, and they are all unanswerable at this juncture, we’re afraid.

11 A Class Act

Soon to be married for 22 years and mother of three, Ripa is the picture of class and professionalism, all the while looking great at 47. That’s right, Kelly Ripa is almost 50 years old and you wouldn’t think it by looking at the pictures we’ve found for you here at The Sportster. We wonder if Michael Strahan isn’t kicking himself for losing the chance to sit next to such a glaring beauty every morning out of the work week.

We’re sure he had his many reasons to leave the show and we’ll get into them here, but that doesn’t change the fact that Kelly Ripa constantly exudes a composed nature—even amidst all the controversy surrounding Strahan’s sudden departure from Live. Audiences everywhere admire her ability to stay classy no matter what the consequences.

10 Don't Let Her Beauty Fool You

Unfortunately, just like the old aphorism: With great power comes great responsibility, yet another applies: Great beauty comes with an unfortunate stereotype. Sad but true. Although most of us can attest to the fact that this label doesn’t always apply. Is it true that every weight-lifter is a dumbbell, as was the popular belief before the fitness revolution of the late 70s and early 80s? We believe that author Chuck Palahniuk and actor/wrestler Dwayne Johnson are examples to the contrary.

Such is the case for Kelly Ripa. Don’t let that blond hair and great looks fool you. She’s an accomplished business woman and performer who runs her business and family with a keen edge and her successes just go to show that she’d definitely a force to be reckoned with.

9 Starting A New Gig

When Regis retired and left Live for good, there is no doubt that he left a big hole … and that hole was felt by fans and viewers everywhere. It took time for producers and Kelly to find a suitable replacement, but when Michael came onto the scene, he fit in perfectly and seemingly almost right away. But often what seems easy on TV often isn’t, and there is no doubt that Michael had a huge uphill battle as he had massive shoes to fill.

Kelly knew a lot about what he was going through, though. After all, a few years back, it was she that had big shoes to fill and this time they were a pair of three inch heels. Ripa replaced the departing Kathie Lee Gifford in 2001, so she, more than anyone else could relate to Michael and all he had to face.

8 Rumours And Controversy

Despite rumours that Ripa had a hand in Strahan’s untimely departure from the show, it seems clear that she was an innocent bystander to whatever Michael’s reasons were. In fact, what’s very shocking is … she was the last to know! When it was announced that Michael was leaving Live, to join Good Morning America as a co-anchor, Ripa was inconspicuous by her sudden absence from the show. She took quite a few days off, and as it was very uncharacteristic of the star, when she returned, she indeed had a lot to say.

She told the audience that after quite a number of years she deserved to have been told earlier that she was losing yet another co-anchor, as opposed to finding out like everybody else. Apparently, she holds no grudges though and she wished Michael all the best.

7 A Little Hope & Faith

No stranger to acting on cue, Ripa worked alongside some of daytimes greatest actors when she starred in the ABC soap, All My Children. Her time there was very extensive--we’re not talking about a short gig. She was on the show for a whopping twelve years and that’s saying something in the world of daytime soaps.

But more than this, who can forget her time on the ABC sitcom, Hope & Faith? Her portrayal of Faith Fairfield endeared her to audiences everywhere. She played a dim-witted yet loveable character zany whose antics only added to her allure. She starred alongside Megan Fox, Faith Ford and Ted McGinley. The show aired for three seasons and definitely had a decent fan base. Interestingly enough, old episodes still air in syndication.

6 Such Chemistry

Kelly Ripa knew that Michael Strahan would win out as co-host despite the fact that he had 59 other competitors up for the same gig. He was actually her personal favourite, as she told the press when the two started working together. Michael Gelman, the show’s long-time producer said it was Strahan from the beginning, and that was clear because of the chemistry the two shared when the cameras were rolling.

Well, audiences agreed as they watched the pair get more and more comfortable with one another and not just on the air. In the multitude of interviews they did, the ease at which they interacted with one another only grew and they became such a great team, playing off each other like an on-air team that had been working together for years as opposed to mere months.

5 Dancing Queen

Most people remember her soap background, but a lot of viewers, probably casual ones, don’t know that it all started for Kelly on … the dance floor?! Yes indeed. Young Kelly first gained notoriety shaking and jiving to the rhythm in 1986 on the TV show Dancin’ On Air, and that ultimately led to her being on the famous Dance Party USA.

She was an avid dancer, as it turns out, and she worked hard at it, but her goals were very far from the dance floor, as she cited being an anchor was her main goal. It would still be many years before she achieved that goal, but she was well on her way. On Dance Party USA, she would often do the cast news reports.

4 Big Shoes To Fill For Big Michael

Michael definitely had his hands full when he started his new job as co-host. Regis Philbin was a veteran of broadcasting, having many credits to his illustrious name. He started behind the scenes, writing and editing and even announcing on The Tonight Show. He later made his move to the front of the camera—globally—in 1967 as Joey Bishop’s side-kick. The rest, as they say, is history.

He actually holds a Guinness World Record, as being the man with most time spent in front of a television camera. His unique style was definitely what gave him his edge … his quick wit and ad lib style became famous rather quickly and that’s what made him a household name over the course of his career. So, we can understand when Michael started, he had big shoes to fill indeed.

3 Quiet On Set

The fans obviously wonder why Michael departed the show in such a quick and furious fashion, but we wonder if fans wonder about Regis’ departure just as much? As it turns out, the old rumour mill is furiously spinning out of control on that one. Sources close to the show have reported that the relationship between Regis and Kelly wasn’t all that great behind the scenes.

Reportedly, Regis wasn’t a fan of talking to Kelly on set when the cameras weren’t running. He was often fond of saying, “Save it for the show.” Many thought that the statement was funny in nature, but when Philbin was interviewed by Larry King after he left Live, Regis stated that the relationship between he and Kelly was … “strained". Was this the case for Michael as well?

2 Hilarious

Despite all we’ve learned, we can’t help but love Kelly Ripa. What’s not to love? Beauty … check! Intelligence … check! Hilarity … sure! She’s definitely funny in her own adorable way. We’ve seen her in many funny characterizations in other roles, but the on-screen character she shows on Live is by far the funniest.

She’s been in her fair share of awkward situations as we’ve just read, but it takes a funny person to show a brave and funny air in the face of adversity and boy has she ever. After all, the show is live, and when quirky fans of the show call in, her funny facial expressions and reactions are genuine and have made audiences laugh extremely hard as their own days begin.

1 Always Left To Stand Alone

With Ryan Seacrest’s recent scandalous problems with harassment, audiences everywhere are wondering: will Kelly Ripa be standing alone once again? Well, she’s been on her own before. When Regis left, audiences questioned her ability to stay the course and along came Michael. And when he left, she was on her own once again. Ryan’s inclusion to the show came at the right time and although the pairing hasn’t proved ideal, they’re still holding their own.

But can Ripa deal with yet another loss? We’d like to think so. After all, she’s proved it time and time again. So, what if Seacrest does leave to deal with the consequences of his recent controversial problems… would Michael Strahan possibly consider returning? Well, we and all his fans can only hope.

NEXT: Michael Strahan And Other Retired NFL Players With Surprising Net Worths