Who Is Mark Consuelos Playing on ‘9-1-1’? ‘Live’ Host Details ‘Fantasy’ Guy

UPDATE (10/9/25 10:30 a.m. ET): Kelly Ripa is just as excited about Mark Consuelos’ 9-1-1 role as he is.

Consuelos will appear as tech mogul Tripp Houser on the first “few episodes” of 9-1-1 Season 9 on ABC, the Live With Kelly and Mark cohost explained on Thursday, October 9. Ripa went on to joke, “You play the fantasy role of my life. I’m finally married to a tech billionaire.”

Consuelos sarcastically described his character as “a billionaire with a heart of gold” before sharing his initial thoughts on the Season 9 premiere script. “I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘What?’ And then, I just kept reading it, and it got better and better and better,” he said. “But I’m casually kayaking out there in the harbor, having a board meeting, and then this happens.”

Live went on to air a preview clip from Thursday’s premiere episode, which sees Consuelos’ character FaceTiming into a business meeting while on a kayak. “Well, you tell the board I will not be intimidated by them. My IQ’s 150. My resting heart rate’s 41. I’ve got the telomeres of a 22-year-old gymnast. I will eat them for lunch,” Tripp declares before unexpectedly being swallowed by a whale, leaving his colleagues staring at the screen in disbelief.

“They had me at whale,” Consuelos joked after the clip. “I had such a fun time doing it. I had so much fun. And when I was talking to Tim Minear, the showrunner, he said, ‘Listen, I just want to make sure that we weren’t punching you. That actually happens.’ I go, ‘I know, I love it.’ And this character’s so fun to play. He gets himself in a lot of trouble. And man, that show takes really big swings. They do some outlandishly fantastic things on that show.”

Ripa continued to joke about her husband’s billionaire character, telling viewers, “I was all in. I was like, ‘Wait, my tech billionaire husband suddenly gets swallowed by a whale? What will I do?”

As the show’s Season 9 trailer teases, Consuelos’ Tripp will offer Hen (Aisha Hinds) the chance to participate in a space flight as thanks for saving his life. In true 9-1-1 fashion, things go awry as a geomagnetic storm threatens the safety of those on the ground and in space.

Disney/Christopher Willard

ORIGINAL STORY (9/2/25 at 10:28 a.m. ET): Mark Consuelos kept himself busy during his and Kelly Ripa‘s break from Live With Kelly and Mark.

The talk show returned with all-new live episodes on Tuesday, September 2, marking the premiere of the show’s 38th season. “It’s good to be back! It was a nice, long vacation. I had to work in the first part of it,” Consuelos said while catching up with fans at the top of the episode. Noting that acting is his “passion,” Consuelos revealed that he will appear on the upcoming season of another ABC series.

“I got to do a few episodes on the show called 9-1-1,” Consuelos shared. “We can’t talk about any of the details, although I play a tech billionaire. His name is Trip, and he experiences an emergency situation, so he needs to call 9-1-1.”

While Ripa was excited about her husband’s latest acting gig, she was even more excited about who he got to work with. “I was like, ‘You get in there and be friends with Angela Bassett so we can all have dinner,'” she quipped. Consuelos went on to call his 9-1-1 experience a “great time.”

9-1-1 returns for Season 9 next month. The new episodes will continue to follow Bassett’s Sgt. Athena Grant and the rest of the 118 crew as they recover from the death of Peter Krause‘s Captain Bobby Nash.

ABC

Bassett previously addressed the possibility of Bobby’s return, telling TODAY.com last month, “I have to keep his memory alive in some way. I’m making no promises. I’m wondering just like you, just like the fans.”

Consuelos didn’t share further details about his guest role, though 9-1-1 showrunner and cocreator, Tim Minear, revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published on Tuesday that Consuelos will play a “Musk-ish, Bezos-ish billionaire” who gets “swallowed by a whale, and a much larger adventure will ensue from that.”

Ripa, for her part, detailed her own summer break plans, joking, “While you were there, I was alone with 10 kids. I had 10 children, varying from the age of 18 to 28.”

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The couple went on to share some photos from their vacation with viewers, including a selfie Ripa and Consuelos took with their daughter, Lola, after playing tennis. “I maintained my status as the worst tennis player that place has ever seen. I am terrible,” Ripa stated. “It’s so much fun, I don’t care that I suck.”

Other photos included one of Ripa and Consuelos on the beach with their youngest son, Joaquin, a sweet snap of their dog, Lena, reuniting with their eldest son, Michael, and a family photo of their kids seated at a dinner table.

“And then, I left again. The last few days of vacation coincided with our first home game for the Campobasso Wolves, first home game,” Consuelos noted. “And by gosh, we got there and we won two to one. We’re off to a good start. Really exciting. The crowd was roaring. Everyone asked, ‘Where’s Kelly?'” (The couple became co-owners of the Italian soccer team Campobasso FC in 2022.)

Poking fun at herself, Ripa stated, “Nobody is asking where Kelly is. They ask, ‘Where’s that unhinged woman who screams obscenities in Italian?'”

Live With Kelly and Mark, Weekdays, check local listings

9-1-1, Season 9 Premiere, Thursday, October 9, 8/7c, ABC