June 27th was International Pineapple Day. I had no idea that was a thing, but sure, why not? On Thursday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Mark, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos had a little fun and celebrated it. They shared some pineapple trivia, drank pineapple juice, and ate pineapple slices. While they were nibbling on their pineapple slices, Kelly mentioned how much she hates eating on TV. She just thinks it’s “weird” to see people eat on screen and really dislikes doing it. In fact, she finds it so uncomfortable that to her, it’s like someone watching her use the restroom. Her hubby is cool with it though!
Apparently, eating on TV is not all it’s cracked up (or cooked up) to be. Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos tackled the topic on this morning’s Live with Kelly and Mark — which was once again previously recorded — as they kicked off the show by celebrating International Pineapple Day.
After Consuelos rattled off some fun facts about pineapple, and as they enjoyed pineapple slices and pineapple juice in front of the camera and their studio audience, Ripa said, “The audience doesn’t want to watch us eat.”
“It’s really, you know — I always say this. Like, you think it’s no big deal to eat on TV, but then try to do it,” she continued. “It’s really weird, like, it feels like people are watching you go to the bathroom. It’s that same —”
Consuelos chimed in with his perspective, noting that he has “no issues with it.”
“If you watch the cooking segments here, I’m just eating and eating and eating,” he teased. “Shamelessly.”
Ripa replied, “No, as am I, but it looks weird. It’s not, like, it’s not —”
Consuelos offered up, “Elegant?”
Ripa agreed, arguing that “it’s not as elegant as you think.”
“It’s weird,” she reiterated. “Everybody looks weird when they eat on TV. If you watch commercials, if you watch food commercials, those are styled by food stylists. And even then, you see people take the bite, but you never really see chewing happen. It’s like a bite, cut away! Cut away.
Consuelos added, “They spit into the spit bucket.”
Ripa replied, “The spit bucket, right. There’s a spit bucket,” before asking the audience, “Did you know that?”
Consuelos said, “Now you do.”
I knew that the food in commercials were styled by food stylists and were not realistic, but I actually had no idea that there was a spit bucket. That makes total sense, though. I’m sorry that Kelly feels so uncomfortable eating on TV. Good thing she gets paid a lot of money to do so! I’d be worried about getting crumbs all over myself in front of everyone or forgetting where I was and talking with a mouth full of food. I don’t think watching anyone eat is elegant, lol, but it’s never super bothered me to see a talk show host or a commercial actor try a bite of food. It’s the full-on food scenes like in Elf where Buddy is eating the pasta with the maple syrup and he’s shoving it in his face that bother me. I don’t love watching those types of scenes. There is one time that I never mind watching someone eat on TV and that’s when the judges do the taste tests on Great British Bake Off. That just mostly makes me envious. I wonder if the hosts of that show use a spit bucket, too.
Photos credit: Robin Platzer / Twin Images / Avalon, Nick Agro / Avalon, Getty and screenshots from YouTube/Live with Kelly and & Mark