Kelly Ripa Back On Set With Michael Strahan

A smiling Michael Strahan announced that Kelly Ripa is returning to "LIVE! With Kelly and Michael" tomorrow — but he may really be smiling about some chaos backstage! The National ENQUIRER exposed Kelly's infuriated reaction to finding out that her co-host had secretly bartered a deal to depart "LIVE!" for a permanent spot on "Good Morning America." Kelly left producers scrambling for guest hosts as she refused to come in to work after Michael announced his new gig

"Everybody's biggest fear is that ABC wants to add a third hour to 'Good Morning America,'" said a "LIVE!" staffer. "They're worried that the company wants to bump Kelly and the new co-host to an afternoon slot, where we'll be up against 'Ellen' and fighting to win a whole new audience!"

"All we can do," added the spy, " is hope that Kelly's able to put a really good spin on this PR disaster for all of us. We had a great summer in the ratings last year, but nobody wants to tune in to a show where they feel like the smiling hosts are big fakes!"

Kelly didn't complain, either, since she was too busy enjoying her own success while out of the shadow of Regis Philbin!

Meanwhile, Michael is benefiting from Kelly's sudden absence — since staffers can't blame him for the show's latest problems. As The ENQUIRER revealed earlier, Michael's huge ego had him courting ABC executives and taking credit for the show's ratings spike after he joined.

"We can't rule that out," said the staffer, "and some of us think Kelly's been sick of doing the show for a while, anyway. If she can't keep her cool and at least set up a new co-host, then ABC might not even care about moving us to a new time slot. This could really be the end of 'LIVE!'"

RadarOnline.com reports that top executives are also concerned about Kelly's return — fearing that the 45-year-old star might damage the show's upbeat reputation by turning on her departing co-host!