Run, armadillo, run! Kelly Ripa slyly dropped a mention about contract negotiations on Live With Kelly and Michael on Thursday, April 28 alongside exiting cohost Michael Strahan.
The show kicked off with the usual on-camera fanfare, and the pair seemed to be getting along well. Then, out crawled a screaming, hairy guest armadillo — escorted by Wild Kingdom cohost Peter Gros — and the tension became palpable.
“This is called a screaming hairy armadillo,” the wildlife expert explained of the squirming, shrieking critter. “The reason he’s screaming is he is small. He has no defense, no teeth. When a predator comes along — he squares it away with his scream.”
Both Strahan, 44, and Ripa looked incredibly concerned for the critter as it shrieked in Gros’ hands. “He’s about to scare me away, I tell you that,” Strahan remarked. Then, Ripa noted that “something” (hopefully, a hair) from the creature flew into her mouth.
“Would you like a napkin?” Gros asked.
“Um, no,” Ripa replied. “I just want to take him into contract negotiations with me!”
Strahan slowly ambled over and chimed in, “Wow, man. Wow.”
Watch Strahan react above.