Before he became a household name, Ryan Seacrest was an aspiring host who was “so excited” to score a role on one of his favorite TV shows.
“I was into Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210,” Seacrest, 42, said on Friday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan.
“You were on Beverly Hills 90210, were you not? Correct my memory,” Kelly Ripa asked her co-host.
“It depends how you define was on,” Seacrest said with a smile. “I had a very short role as a game show host for a couple’s game show.”
In May, after months of speculation and numerous guest co-hosts, Ripa announced that the American Idol host would be taking up the seat next to her on the popular morning program. And when he was selected for the role, Ripa, 47, admitted that the crew “grabbed as much archival footage of as we possibly could” — including his stint on 90210.
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The morning show proceeded to air the clip of Seacrest from his bit on the drama, which aired for 10 seasons from 1990-2000.
“Couple No. 2. First question. Matt, you can put your headphones on there. Kelly, aside from the bedroom, what’s your fiancé’s favorite place to make whoopee?” Seacrest said in the clip, also featuring Tori Spelling (Donna Martin), who was pretending to be her friend Kelly, played by Jennie Garth.
“In Matt’s law office,” said Spelling, who sat beside Daniel Cosgrove, whom Ripa acted alongside on All My Children.
Reflecting on his appearance on the show, Seacrest admitted, “I was so excited to get that role.”
“That was obviously four or five years ago,” he joked. “I was very excited to get that role because when I was a kid in high school, I just wanted to meet Jason Priestley — Brandon Walsh — he was the guy I looked up to. Part of the reason I moved to L.A. was because I watched Beverly Hills 90210 and thought the world was just like that. It’s not.”
Live with Kelly and Ryan airs weekdays on ABC.