Kelly Ripa Explains Why She Won't Be Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner this Year

Kelly Ripa will not be stepping into the kitchen this Thanksgiving. The Southampton resident told Entertainment Tonight on November 12 that for her own sake—and her family’s—she will not be making turkey or anything of the sort this year. “I’m not even joking,” she says. “I’m not even bothering with attempting to cook!”

Ripa explained that her home becomes too much of a madhouse around this time of year, “My house became the house that people come to when they don’t have any place to go.” She said, “It started during a snowstorm 10 or 12 years ago. Mark and I had a group of people that were stranded.” That day, the back half of the oven was on the fritz, resulting in a paradoxical half-raw, half-dry turkey.

Ripa said, the event was enough for her family to “turn on the bird.” Now, the dish is purely ceremonial and sits out for extended periods of time without any takers. Understandably, the Ripa-Consuelos clan has moved on to other foods. Ripa told Entertainment Tonight that her youngest son, Joaquin prefers sage and butter pork chops, her daughter Lola shares her love of mashed and sweet potatoes. This year, Ripa has decided that she will be “an honored guest,” having a catering company handle the holiday feast while she entertains her countless guests.

Her oldest son, Michael, recently made his debut on Riverdale as the younger version of father Mark Consuelos‘s character, but it was 15-year-old Joaquin who was in the spotlight on Monday’s Live with Kelly and Ryan. This year’s Thanksgiving Feast segment has been christened the Family Edition, which entails members of Ripa’s and Ryan Seacrest‘s extended families cooking holiday dishes on the show. In the November 12 episode, Joaquin demonstrated the preferred “turkey alternative” of their household: a pork cutlet. Ripa’s mother-in-law showed her how to make it, and she in turn taught Joaquin. Seacrest slyly asked him, “Turkey not a big hit at your place?” to which Joaquin cautiously responded, “Look…there’s only so much dry bird you can have until it becomes a little bit redundant.”