Mario Lopez recalls ‘very awkward and uncomfortable’ Ben Affleck interview: ‘I’ll never forget’

Access Hollywood star Mario Lopez has opened up for the first time about his “very uncomfortable” red carpet interview with Ben Affleck.

Ben Affleck pictured during a red carpet interview. Picture YouTube

He wasn’t saved by the bell.

Mario Lopez once had a “very awkward and uncomfortable” interview with Ben Affleck because the TV host “wasn’t prepared” for the job.

“One time when I interviewed Ben Affleck for a movie … I didn’t want to do it because I wasn’t prepared,” Lopez told Us Weekly in an interview published Wednesday. “And they said, ‘We don’t have anyone, you have to do it.’ I was like, ‘Oh, God.’”

The Saved By the Bell star, 49, hastily wrote down questions to ask during the conversation, but the Gone Girl star figured out that he wasn’t prepared right away, reports Page Six.

“He was looking at me [like], ‘You didn’t see this, you don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Lopez told the magazine.

Affleck pictured during a red carpet interview. Picture YouTube

Though Lopez said the Argo actor, 51, was “cool” about the botched chat, the Access Hollywood host said he “felt very awkward and uncomfortable” because he knew Affleck was aware of the situation.

“He could see through me! And I’ll never forget that. And I was like, ‘Never again am I going to try to fake it.’”

The seasoned red carpet host vowed to always be prepared following his Affleck encounter. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Lopez got his big break in Hollywood when he landed the role of A.C. Slater on ’90s sitcom Saved By the Bell.

The Mexican-American celebrity’s hosting career kicked off after the comedy show ended in 1992, and he has since been the MC of programs such as The X Factor and America’s Best Dance Crew, as well as interviewed A-listers including Taylor Swift, Brad Pitt and Chris Pratt.

Affleck, who has been on the other side of the mic since the ’80s, is no stranger to his interviews going viral — including one from 2016 that turned him into a meme — he said he doesn’t take internet trends to heart.

“I got to a place where [the public perception] was so different from who I am that I just stopped reading and stopped caring,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2022.

However, he started to change his mindset when his three children — Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel 11, whom he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner — grew up.

“But then, as my kids got older and started seeing the internet themselves, that’s the difficult part,” Affleck explained.

This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Mario Lopez recalls ‘very awkward and uncomfortable’ Ben Affleck interview: ‘I’ll never forget’