Kelly Ripa And Mark Consuelos Duke It Out In A Round Of Fencing On ‘Live’: “I Told You, I Have Terrible Aim”
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos took a stab at fencing — and each other — on this morning’s Live with Kelly and Mark.
Wearing full fencing attire, the co-hosts scored a lesson from Team USA fencing Olympians and married couple of five years, Lee Kiefer and Gerek Meinhardt. Kiefer and Meinhardt, who are two years into medical school, are taking a “leave of absence” to compete in this summer’s Paris Olympics.
After Consuelos quipped that they’re in their “Olympic redshirt,” Ripa asked if the other medical students are “intimidated by the fact that [they’re] both fencers.”
Kiefer replied, “Maybe. We’re intimidated that they have time to study.”
Ripa also proposed a “plan” for their intended medical “specialty.”
“You’re going to become plastic surgeons because your knife skills are on point,” she joked. “Oh, the puns keep coming.”
Meinhardt and Kiefer, who have competed in five and four Olympic games, respectively, taught Ripa and Consuelos foil fencing, but Meinhardt still took a moment to inform them about the sport’s other two weapons — épée and sabre — and noted that the weapons “have different target areas” and “different rules on how to score.”
“One of the main differences is in foil and épée, you have to hit with the point, just the end. But in sabre, you can slash, so we’re not going to do that today,” Meinhardt said.
Ripa exclaimed, “Oh, c’mon! Why don’t we have sabres here?”
Later on, they learned the “basics,” which involved the following “footwork”: “en garde,” “advance,” “retreat,” “lunge,” and “recover.” After they lunged, Consuelos said, “I heard something tear.”
After some practice at both footwork and hits, Ripa and Consuelos donned masks and were put to the test, facing off against each other. Beforehand, they were reminded about where they were aiming for on their uniforms.
“But not down here,” Consuelos quipped, gesturing toward his privates, which Meinhardt confirmed is “definitely somewhere you don’t want to hit.”
A green light would shine behind them if Ripa scored a point, while a red light would shine for Consuelos. A white light would shine if they hit the other’s arm, which signified that they did not score a point.
Meinhardt, who served as referee, noted that they would start once he said the words, “Ready, fence,” and would have to stop and restart once he told them, “Halt.”
Consuelos quipped to Ripa, “Do you hear that?” Ripa jokingly replied, “What?”
On their first go, Ripa got a low hit, and told Kiefer, “I told you, I have terrible aim.” Consuelos reminded Ripa, “Up here.”
Both eager, they had two false starts over the course of the round. Ripa ultimately bested Consuelos with a score of 3-1. Both out of breath, they thanked Meinhardt and Kiefer, noting that they are “rooting for [them]” in Paris.
