regisreplacement460.jpgAnderson Cooper courtesy of CNN

Now that Regis Philbin is stepping down as co-host of Live! with Regis and Kelly, who will land the coveted spot as his replacement?

Reege has been the face of the hit program for 28 years, and filling that seat next to Kelly Ripa is going to be a daunting task. Entertainment Weekly has created list of potential replacements, but do any of these guys measure up?

The contenders so far: Extra's Mario Lopez, Survivor's Jeff Probst, CNN's Anderson Cooper, ABC's Chris Cuomo, The Bachelor's Chris Harrison, Neil Patrick Harris, Access Hollywood's Billy Bush and host of Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe. Others who have been thrown in the mix: Nick Jonas, Tom Bergeron and Bryant Gumbel.

Philbin, who has denied leaving the show due to a paycut, gave co-host Kelly Ripa a 15-minute advance notice of his decision to retire. Might not have been the best way to break such huge news.

The search is on ...