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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Villager dazzles popular TV talk show hosts while winning second big prize

Villager Julie Larson

A Villager made quite the splash on “Live With Kelly and Ryan” – again – on Monday morning.

And by the time her five-minute call-in segment on the show was completed, Village of Duval resident Julie Larson had received plenty of compliments from Kelly Ripa about her youthful appearance and was the proud winner of a trip to Wales.

Larson was featured in a segment of the show called “Ice to Meet You.” With fake snowflakes falling in the background, Larson’s photo appeared on the screen identifying her as a resident of The Villages.

“Oh my gosh, I am beyond excited that you called me,” Larson told Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. “I’m shaking in my boots right now.”

After some lighthearted banter about not needing boots in sunny Florida, Larson participated in a contest to win a “Live With Kelly and Ryan” coffee mug. The hosts had to decide if Julie’s husband is a ski instructor and he taught her to ski, or if she had golfed in North Dakota in 15-degree weather.

After Larson said that she’d lived in The Villages for 15 winters and nine years as a permanent resident, Kelly took the questions in a different direction?

“You’re retired age? Is this an old photo? Are you tricking us?” Ripa asked, as Larson’s photo reappeared on the television screen again.

“No, that’s a very recent photo,” Larson said with a laugh.

“You look great!” Ripa exclaimed.

“Retirement!” Seacrest added.

Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest react while playing a game with Villager Julie Larson during Monday’s airing of ‘Live With Kelly and Ryan.’

After admitting they were stumped and polling the audience, Seacrest went against the popular vote.

“I’m going to take a guess that you golfed in 15-degree weather in North Dakota. Is that true?” Seacrest asked.

“It is not true,” Larson said to a round of applause.

The photo of Villager Julie Larson that appeared on the television screen during her segment on ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’ on Monday.

Now that she’d won the mug, Larson was set to complete in a much bigger contest for a $10,000 trip to Wales.

“No matter what happens with this prize, you are winning at life, because the fact that you’ve been living there presumably retired for at least nine winters,” Ripa said. “You look really good.”

After some more lighthearted banter, Ripa spun a wheel that revealed the trip to Wales as the prize Larson could win. Seacrest then asked the big question: “Last week, we talked with Missy Peregrym. What did she say she created for her wedding?”

After some brief thought, Larson answered, “family crest.”

“You got it!” Seacrest gushed.

Larson’s trip for two includes seven days and six nights in Wales, a $1,700 food allowance, opportunities to hike Wales’ highest mountains, gliding on Europe’s longest zipline, adventures on an underground trampoline and time to explore the capital city of Cardiff. It is being provided by Visit Britain and air travel comes compliments of British Airways.

On Tuesday afternoon, Larson said Monday’s call actually was the second time she’s been called and won a prize from “Live With Kelly and Ryan.”

“The first time we went to Antigua,” she said. “Perseverance pays off.

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