The Secret to How Ryan Seacrest Manages His Insanely Busy Schedule
Ryan Seacrest might be the busiest host in America. American Idol, his iHeartRadio show, and Live all keep his scheduled pretty stacked. What’s even more impressive, is that each of these projects is doing exceedingly well in the ratings department.
“American Idol — which features Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan as judges — regularly wins Sunday night ratings and is the most-watched reality show (even without those juggernaut ratings it used to rack up); and Live‘s audience has been growing while in recent weeks while Dr. Phil and Ellen have seen small losses or held even,” reports EW.
Unsurprisingly, when Seacrest first joined Live and American Idol was newly renewed, he wasn’t sure if it was possible to maintain all three gigs.
“I kept telling everybody I could do it but I wasn’t quite sure I was going to be able to pull it off,” he told EW. “And we’ve got it down to a science. It’s the most I’ve ever worked.”
For two years, Seacrest has been on the radio every morning and on live TV six days a week between Idol and Live With Kelly and Ryan.
How does Ryan Seacrest do it?
Moving to New York helped a lot.
“Moving to New York was significant because I had lived here in California for almost 20 years, and I will tell you when I sat down and tried to figure out how to do the show, four hours of live radio, and getting back here on Sundays, I kept telling everybody I could do it but I wasn’t quite sure I was going to be able to pull it off. And we’ve got it down to a science. It’s the most I’ve ever worked,” he said.
But even so, his scheduled is enough to make every homebody in the world shudder.
Mentally, Seacrest says the secret to his success is not thinking about how much he has to do.
When EW asked what the “magic element” is, he replied:
“To not think about it too much. I think for Live, Kelly is an unbelievable talent and she is America’s best friend in a way. So many people have watched her have her kids and raise her kids, and I walked into something that is already a successful franchise and has been for years, but to see in a climate where television is declining for the most part, especially in the daytime talk world, to see it go up makes it fun. Makes the work worth it.”
The one time Ryan Seacrest got sick
Despite his busy schedule, Seacrest isn’t one to get sick. In 17 years of hosting Idol, he’s only missed one episode, and it happened this season.
“It was rough. It was rough. My schedule is… it caught up to me. My schedule is as intense as its ever been and I have to travel every four or five days, and I can fight through a lot but this had me down and out. [Laughs] I guess when I look back on 17 years and hundreds and hundreds of episodes, it was the only one,” he said.
