Live! With Kelly Contest Winner Richard Curtis Returns to Co-Host With Kelly Ripa

Will the teacher become Kelly's permanent partner?

By Francesca Bacardi Nov 07, 2016 2:41 PMTags

Back by popular demand is Richard Curtis!

Live! With Kelly contest winner Curtis returned to co-host with Kelly Ripa Monday, prompting longtime host Kelly to gush about the teacher-turned-daytime talk show host.

"You were so good at [hosting] that we were backstage behind your back. You were doing a radio interview, and we were like, 'We need to get Richard Curtis back for another day, so let's make that happen as fast as possible.'"

Curtis was still in disbelief about having been asked to return to appear alongside Kelly. "It is so good to be back," he said. "I'm somewhere between fantastic and wake me up, Richard, you're dreaming." 

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When he received the call, however, he was in the middle of teaching a class and joked that he "threw a chair up in the air." He also confessed that his school has become far more interested in daytime talk shows as a result of his big TV debut. Despite learning a lot about the entertainment industry, Curtis admitted that his students were only curious about one thing: the food.

"'Curtis, what kind of food did they have in the green room?'" he recalled his students asking him after his first stint as co-host. 

Naturally, he pulled their legs a bit by telling them "personal chefs, plethora of a buffet" and more were made available to him. And even though his students couldn't be happier or more excited for him, Curtis' daughter feels differently.

When her grandmother, Curtis' mom, asked her how she felt about seeing her dad on TV, she was not impressed.

"'It's not like it's Disney channel, grandma,'" Curtis recited his daughter's response. As for what makes Disney channel so much better, Curtis dished that she said the "magic powers and princesses."

Clearly, magic powers will always win.