Kelly Ripa Pulled The 5-Second Rule With A Thanksgiving Pie
Fans of the hit sitcom "Friends" may recall the season seven episode "The One With All the Cheesecakes," in which Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) become obsessed with a cheesecake that gets mistakenly delivered to Chandler's apartment (via YouTube). After chowing down on the dessert, the friends think they're done with the whole ordeal, but, just as soon as the cheesecake was devoured, another one shows up at Chandler's door.
They attempt to return the treat to its rightful owner, but the good deed proves to be much too hard. Instead, the pair divvy the second sweet up amongst themselves, but after doing so, Rachel accidentally drops her half on the floor. A jubilant Chandler tries to rub it in her face — though only until his partner in crime smacks his own half to the ground. And while you may think that put an end to the stolen cheesecake chronicles, that was hardly the case, as the final scene shows Rachel, Chandler, and, eventually, Joey (Matt LeBlanc), scarfing down the cheesecake off the floor.
The saga has garnered many laughs from "Friends" fans since it originally aired in 2001, but in reality, no one in their right mind would be desperate enough to quell their sweet tooth with a dessert that splattered on the floor...right? Apparently not. According to People, that's exactly what Kelly Ripa did this past Thanksgiving. Just like Rachel and Chandler, she seems to have no shame about it whatsoever.
Kelly Ripa says she achieved 'peak gluttony' after this Thanksgiving mishap
Kelly Ripa always keeps a spare turkey breast on hand for Thanksgiving, but after this year, she may want to have an extra pie or two at the ready, as well. During yesterday's episode of "LIVE with Kelly and Ryan," the actor detailed how an attempt at getting a piece of her "surprisingly dense" leftover coconut creme pie went completely awry, landing them in a situation shockingly similar to Rachel and Chandler's cheesecake debacle.
"As I'm carrying it, the plate is collapsing underneath. And I try to get it to the counter top and it just flies out of my hands. It crumbles to the floor, it goes all over the walls, all over the cabinets," she explained during the morning talk show (via Instagram). However, Ripa didn't let the dessert go to waste. Apparently, with the 5-second rule in mind, she and a pal simply grabbed serving spoons and began eating the splattered pie straight off the floor – a decision she said helped her achieve "peak gluttony" (via People).
Some may find Ripa's admission admirable –- after all, who feels good about wasting an entire coconut creme pie? However, experts don't advise following in her footsteps, as dropped food can start picking up bacteria the second it makes contact with the floor (via Prevention). Fortunately, it only really becomes an issue if there are harmful microbes like Salmonella on the ground. For Ripa's sake, that's hopefully not the case.