Ryan Seacrest is clearing the air about his quest for love.
The Wheel of Fortune host, 51, clarified during the Monday, March 30, episode of “On Air With Ryan Seacrest” that he’s “not on Tinder” after a comment he made about using the dating app went viral.
“People keep asking me if I’m on Tinder. Well, I’m not. I think I made a joke about Tinder on Wheel of Fortune,” he explained.
During the March 16 episode of Wheel of Fortune, which had a “Love Is in the Air” theme, Seacrest seemingly hinted that he was using Tinder to look for love.
“I love ‘Love Is in the Air.’ I am so excited to watch all of these shows,” the TV personality told cohost Vanna White. “And I’ll be on Tinder tonight, so I can find it.”
At one point during the episode, Seacrest also joked, “I am so lonely up here.”
During Monday’s radio show, Seacrest’s cohost Tanya Rad read a few of the outlandish headlines that came from his Tinder comments.
“Ryan Seacrest admits he’s lonely as he interrupts Wheel of Fortune with Tinder update,” one headline read. Seacrest responded, “I mean, that’s not what happened at all!”
Another headline stated, “Lonely Ryan Seacrest hints he’s looking for love on Tinder.”
Seacrest’s cohost Sisanie added, “Why do we have to act like he’s lonely?”
Seacrest concluded, “I said it jokingly.”
The American Idol host has been single since his split from model Aubrey Paige in April 2024. Seacrest’s rep confirmed at the time that the couple had split after three years together.
Prior to his relationship with Paige, Seacrest had high-profile romances with model Shana Wall from 2003 to 2005, Dancing With the Stars judge Julianne Hough from 2010 to 2013 and chef Shayna Taylor from 2017 to 2020.
In 2017, Seacrest opened up to Kelly Ripa about his fears of making mistakes in relationships.
“My parents [have] been married for 47 years, and so I have this thing …” he said on Live with Kelly and Ryan at the time. “The truth is, I have this thing that I don’t want to screw it up and a lot of times, they get screwed up and so I figure, the longer I wait, the older I’ll be, the closer to death I am, so I can get it in, and not screw it up.”
Seacrest later opened up about his love life during an August 2022 episode of the talk show.
“I’m happy. I’m happy in the present moment,” he said. “I don’t think about anything else. Why push it? I think having kids at the right time would be great. I have a fantastic family, a very small family. I have a niece, [my sister] Meredith has a daughter. My parents have been married 52 and a half years, so that’s a high bar. So that’s in my head.”
