"I Worship Him!"

Kelly Ripa's Dream Co-Host: Anderson Cooper!

August 21, 2012 AT 10:15 AM
By Justin Ravitz

Kelly Ripa and Anderson Cooper -- Credit: Peter Kramer/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank
Is Anderson Cooper about to get even busier?

At long last, ABC and Kelly Ripa will finally reveal the permanent replacement for Regis Philbin on Live! With Kelly on Tuesday, September 4.

And although many famous, funny men have sat beside Ripa, 41, since Philbin, 80, left the show in November 2011 -- Nick Lachey, Josh Groban, Jerry O'Connell, Seth Meyers and Ripa's husband Mark Consuelos -- the woman herself recently hinted at her ideal first choice for cohost: her bestie Anderson Cooper!

"We have a connection like nobody else," Ripa told Us Weekly in August. "I worship him!"

But Cooper, 45, likely won't be able to leave his other commitments -- including his CNN show Anderson Cooper 360 and his own syndicated talk show -- so "the search continues," Ripa said.

Meyers, 38, and Groban, 31, are said to be the current frontrunners.

"It's fun [to see different co-hosts], but you want the girl to settle down!" Ripa joked.

Ripa's husband Consuelos, 41, is not a a true contender either, she recently explained to Vanity Fair. "No one would make me happier than Mark, but he values our marriage," Ripa explained. "He says that he doesn't see how we could stay married and both do that show."