Ryan Seacrest has laid out a surprisingly strict list of dating red flags, telling listeners of his Los Angeles radio show on Monday that women who ignore a 'good morning' on a walk, drink anything other than black coffee, wake up to blaring alarms or take more than 27 minutes to get ready are unlikely to make the cut.
The news came after a quietly turbulent year in Ryan Seacrest's personal life. The 51-year-old Wheel of Fortune and American Idol host has been single since his split from model Aubrey Paige in April 2024, ending a three-year relationship that he had largely kept out of the spotlight.
In March, he joked that he had dipped a toe into Tinder, sounding more like a man cautiously re-entering the dating pool than a Hollywood fixture who has spent decades fronting prime-time television.
On his On Air With Ryan Seacrest show, the presenter framed his criteria as a search for the 'simple things' rather than grand romantic gestures. Top of the list was basic politeness.
'When you're out on a run or a walk or a bike ride, do you say hi to people that pass?' he asked his co-hosts and listeners. 'If you don't, I'm not so sure about you. And if someone says 'good morning' to you on the path and you don't respond, that is a red flag.'
He admitted he even builds that into dates. 'I take everybody out for a little exercise. It's a test,' he said, half-joking, half-serious. In a town that lives on image, Seacrest seems to be drawing the line at how someone treats strangers on a trail.
Ryan Seacrest And The Morning Ritual 'Green Flags'
From there, Ryan Seacrest moved into territory he knows well, mornings. For a man who has spent much of his working life waking up America at dawn, his romantic litmus tests lean heavily on how a partner handles the early hours.
'I really look forward to getting up and having my coffee,' he told listeners. 'I think if we can't share that moment together, it's a red flag.'
The detail arrived quickly. In Seacrest's world, 'I need coffee' is a green flag, but 'don't have a lot, and please don't put milks and stuff in it.' When his co-hosts Tanya Rad and Sisanie pushed back at the coffee purity test, he doubled down.
'Green flag, black coffee drinker,' he insisted.
Women who cannot or will not share that ritual, he suggested, quickly drift into red-flag territory. The coffee preference may sound trivial, but for Seacrest it appears to be shorthand for compatibility with his tightly scheduled, early-rising lifestyle.
Alarms, Timers And The 27‑Minute Rule For Ryan Seacrest
If coffee is non‑negotiable, so is the way the day actually begins. Ryan Seacrest drew a hard line at harsh alarms, saying anyone who wants to date him 'cannot have one of those things that just ruins your day from the beginning.'
'It's got to be a chimey thing. Like a pleasant, not a hardcore alarm. Chimes. Green flag,' he said. In other words, if your phone sounds like a fire drill at 6am, you may not be Ryan Seacrest material.
His final red flag was the one that raised the most eyebrows in the studio: how long it takes a partner to get ready.
He said he is looking for someone who 'can get ready in less than 27 minutes.' Not half an hour, not a rough guess.
''Cause not 30. It's not 25. Twenty-seven. Green flag,' he said. 'If you're over an hour, and I have been there over an hour. What are you doing?'
He kept going, the frustration sounding less hypothetical and more like a memory. 'How many poses can you make in the mirror for 90-plus minutes? What are you doing? Like, I have to go back to work. You missed your window. Time's up. We missed our window to do anything.'
It is hard not to hear, underneath the punchlines, a man who has spent years trying to mesh a relentlessly scheduled career with the slower, messier realities of other people's lives. His timeline of relationships, Julianne Hough from 2010 to 2013, Shayna Taylor on and off between 2017 and 2020, three years with Paige, suggests he is not allergic to commitment.
But the specifics he rattled off on air hint at someone determined to avoid what he sees as time-wasting friction the next time around.
