The Talk co-host Amanda Kloots, 39, has found herself a friend for life in The Bachelorette star Michael Allio, 36. Amanda formed a tight bond with Michael online over the past year, after they connected over both being widows. And much to the delight of fans, the pair finally decided to meet up in-person for a dinner date in their home state of Ohio, which Amanda documented on Instagram on December 27.
Amanda’s photo featured the pair all smiles while posing together over food and drinks at the restaurant. She sweetly had her arm wrapped around the single father, who lightly placed his hand on Amanda’s. She captioned the snapshot, “Finally met this guy in person after being Instagram friends for a year!! Lots of fried food, drinks, great chats and laughs!” Some of their famous friends, including The Bachelor star Matt James and Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, left heart emojis in the comments section of the post. One fan wrote, “I love this friendship,” in regards to Amanda and Michael, while another said, “The friendship we didn’t know we needed.”
Amanda and Michael looked so happy to finally be together in-person. Amanda, who lost her husband, Broadway star Nick Cordero, to COVID-19 in July 2020, connected with Michael after seeing his story play out on Katie Thurston’s season of The Bachelorette this past summer. Michael’s wife Laura Ritter-Allio died in 2019 after a 2-year battle with breast cancer, and he’s been raising their 5-year-old son James on his own. Michael ended up leaving the dating series at the final 4 to go home to his son.
As for Amanda, she’s been holding strong while caring for her 2-year-old son Elvis since Nick’s passing. She appeared on the latest season of Dancing with the Stars and paid tribute to her late husband in numerous performances all the way up to the finale, where she placed 4th.