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It’s that time of the year again when the jingle of cleaning echoes through the halls, preparing for the festive season. As Thanksgiving approaches, Kelly Ripa shared a relatable insight on Wednesday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, drawing from a survey that highlighted “the top cleaning tasks to ensure healthy holidays.” Her anecdotes brought back memories of Thanksgivings gone by.
Recalling the preparations at her family home, Ripa humorously painted a picture of a household transformed for the holiday. “When our family hosted Thanksgiving dinner, every room that guests might enter was spotless and organized,” she recounted. “Meanwhile, every sign of clutter was hastily stashed away in cabinets, drawers, and closets. I’d hear, ‘Kelly, don’t let them open the closet! You gather the coats and put them on the bed.’”
While some audience members found themselves nodding in agreement with Ripa’s experience, her co-host, Mark Consuelos, didn’t quite share the same memories. Yet, Ripa couldn’t resist a playful warning about the potential consequences of curiosity.
“If anyone dared to open that closet door, chaos would ensue,” she joked, adding, “It was my duty to guard the coat closet, gather the coats, and toss them onto the bed.”
“If anybody opens up that closet door, they will die,” she joked. “It was my job to sort of guard the coat closet and gather the coats and throw them on the bed.”
Consuelos asked, “What kind of stuff is in there? Not just coats?”
Ripa replied, “I mean, whatever was on the floor or in the other room. You had to wedge it into the closet.”
As for what would happen when Thanksgiving was over, Ripa quipped, “I don’t remember. I think it stayed in the closet until next Thanksgiving.”
Consuelos said, “See, every time I walked by that closet, it would make me so nervous. I would just want to clean it up.”
Ripa agreed, “A lot of nervousness.”
“Just throw it out,” Consuelos added.
Ripa returned to the survey, reading that “71% of hosts focus on tidying up the spaces that guests are most likely to see,” while “64% of Americans make sure to empty trash bins” and “57% use air fresheners or candles to infuse their homes for inviting scents.”
“Always very nervous of a scented home,” she teased.
While she noted that she will use “a scented candle,” Ripa emphasized that this is “not to cover up other smells.”
“There are certain homes you walk in and you’re like…,” she began, pretending to take a whiff.
Consuelos interjected, “Cat.”
Ripa continued, “It’s Febreeze and something else. You know what I mean?”
Consuelos doubled down, “Yeah, it’s cat.”
“It’s like yes, I smell the Febreeze and yes, it is clean fresh. However, there’s also an under-aroma of something horrible,” Ripa quipped.
Ripa felt vindicated after reading that “34% of hosts admit to hiding clutter in closets and spare rooms.”
“But I think that’s an underestimate,” she said. “I think a lot of hosts are lying, just based on the internal poll I did here.”
Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.