‘Live With Kelly And Ryan’ Suffers Optical Illusion Tech Fail While Back In Studio

Tuesday’s (September 8) episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan saw Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest return to the studio for the first time in six months. It also left some viewers a little confused after the latter lost a hand in a tech fail.

The twosome presented from their modified set in line with social distancing guidelines. As they opened the episode, they sat around six feet apart on two separate desks that were pushed together, though a clever optical illusion edit removed the space between them and made it seem as though they were right next to one another on screen.

ABC used a split screen that was cleverly spliced together so the desks and the New York City skyline background lined up perfectly. Only Ryan accidentally moved a little too far out of the parameters of his camera, which meant his right forearm was no longer visible in the shot and suddenly disappeared into thin air between himself and Kelly.

A number of fans spotted the accidental crop and took to Twitter to point it out.

“Ryan your hand is gone lol,” one fan tweeted alongside two photos of their TV screen, which can be seen here.

“Ryan’s hand disappears. And look at the background near the floor, there’s a digital seam,” another wrote, who also shared a photo of the mishap that can be viewed here.

“So I’m sitting here watching @LiveKellyRyan and Ryan’s arm keeps disappearing?!?! Wtf?!?!” posted a third user.

But despite the mistake, others praised the show for using clever tricks to make things seem as normal as possible.

“#KellyandRyan are back live in-studio and it’s actually pretty convincing when they split-screen them so they look like they’re sitting together!” a fourth person tweeted.

Others who didn’t notice the fail even questioned why the co-hosts didn’t seem to be social distancing.

To further adhere to the guidelines, the morning show also filmed without its usual studio audience.

Shortly before the broadcast, Kelly and Ryan joked about taking extra precautions for their first day back as they wore gas masks and full-body bright yellow coveralls in a hilarious photo shared to the former’s Instagram. The two looked at the floor and stood behind a large sheet of glass to protect the crew.

“Guess who’s back in the studio today?” Kelly captioned the snap.

The two previously co-hosted remotely from their own homes after production temporarily shut down in March.