This is posted on Rodney Ho's AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Cheerful Atlanta actress/entertainer Beth Keener is now in the top 5 in Kelly Ripa's guest host contest.
She made it down to the top 40, the top 20 and then the top 10. (Former Star 94 host Tom Sullivan made the top 40 but not the top 20.)
Keener will take part in various challenges next week as Ripa pares the numbers from five to one. The winner will co host with her on Friday, October 21.
"I'm ecstatic," Keener said Friday. "I'm so happy, I'm afraid if I walk around, I might pee!" She said she loves meeting new people and can't wait for what Ripa has in store for the final five.
She has scoped out her competitors: a theater director from Texas, a male teacher, a mom from New Jersey and a former gymnast named Dax Holt who was a correspondent and producer for TMZ until August. And she knows who the guest co hosts are going to be this week before Friday, including two with Atlanta ties: Sam Champion of the Weather Channel on Monday and R&B singer Ciara Wednesday. In between, actors Matt Bomer and John Leguizamo are in the mix. And Thursday features former Conyers resident and movie star Dakota Fanning. Hopefully, Keener will stick around long enough to meet them all.
Keener has a passing resemblance to the actress who played the mom on "How I Met Your Mother" Cristin Milioti. You be the judge:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
In 2010, Jenn Hobby - then of Q100, now of Star 94.1 - co-hosted with Ripa, one of four radio hosts who won a similar contest. (My coverage at the time.)
ON TV
"Live With Kelly," 9 a.m. weekdays, WSB-TV (ABC)
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