Kelly Ripa has what she jokingly described as an “embarrassment of riches,” and this time she was talking about the men in her own family.
Ripa revealed on Live with Kelly and Mark that her youngest son, 23-year-old Joaquin Consuelos, has been nominated in PEOPLE’s 2026 Sexiest Man Alive Readers’ Choice poll. Joaquin is competing in a category recognizing Broadway debut stars after appearing in a revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
For most families, that would be a strange enough topic for breakfast television.
For the Ripa-Consuelos household, it is beginning to look like tradition.
PEOPLE reported that Joaquin is now the third prominent member of the family to be pulled into the magazine’s annual celebration of attractive famous people.
The Family Has Been Here Before
Mark Consuelos previously received recognition as one of PEOPLE’s sexiest television hosts, something that naturally became material for the daytime show he cohosts with his wife.
Older son Michael Consuelos also appeared in the magazine’s 2022 Sexiest Man Alive issue as part of a feature on famous sons.
Now Joaquin has joined the club.
That gives Ripa a nearly perfect television setup. She can celebrate her son, tease her husband and acknowledge how ridiculous it is that one magazine franchise keeps circling back to the same household.
The family’s willingness to joke about the situation is part of why the story works. Nobody involved appears to be pretending that a readers’ poll is a career-defining honor. It is celebrity culture doing what celebrity culture does best: turning an ordinary family conversation into a public bit.
Joaquin’s Nomination Comes From Broadway
The timing also reflects a real step in Joaquin’s own career.
His nomination follows his Broadway debut in Death of a Salesman, placing him in a category built around performers making notable first appearances on the New York stage.
That matters because Joaquin has spent much of his life being introduced as Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ son. A Broadway role gives him a separate professional identity — even if his mother immediately brings that identity back into the family comedy on live television.
Mark has also been involved in Broadway work, giving the household another reason to compare notes about the stage and, now, magazine polls.
Morning Television Loves a Family Story With a Running Joke
Live has always worked partly because viewers feel as though they know the hosts beyond the formal television desk. Ripa has spoken about marriage, parenting and family milestones for years. Mark joining the show only made that dynamic more direct.
That means a story about their son’s nomination does not require much setup for regular viewers. The audience already knows the family characters.
Kelly is the proud mother who cannot resist turning the moment into comedy.
Mark is the father who has already been through his own version of the same conversation.
Joaquin becomes the newest family member to discover that anything mildly embarrassing can become a segment.
PEOPLE’s Poll Has Become Its Own Celebrity Ecosystem
The Sexiest Man Alive franchise is nominally about appearance, but the readers’ categories have increasingly become a vehicle for celebrity campaigning, television banter and fan participation.
Morning-show hosts tease each other about nominations. Spouses lobby viewers. Castmates post support. The winners get another round of coverage when the results arrive.
That is why Joaquin’s nomination fits so naturally into the ecosystem around Live. It is less about a serious ranking than about giving a famous family another reason to laugh at itself in public.
Voting remains open into October, with results expected later in the month.
Whether Joaquin wins or not, Ripa has already gotten the part of the story she can use forever: her husband, one son and now another son have all somehow ended up inside the same annual “sexiest” universe.
At this rate, the real competition may be deciding who gets teased about it most at the next family dinner.
