ITV This Morning fans divided as Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard announce new presenter amid daytime pay cuts
ITV’s daytime programmes have been making headlines following major cuts recently, with Lorraine and Loose Women undergoing drastic changes.
While the magazine show This Morning hasn’t yet been affected by some of the recent shake-ups, the show announced on Monday that the presenting panel would soon be expanding, with former Love Island star Olivia Attwood set to make her hosting debut on the show.
During Monday’s instalment, presenters Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley chatted to the TV personality before sharing the news.
“We’ve very excited, you’ve got some big news about This Morning and you in the summer…” Shepherd commented following the interview.
“I have some news, yes, it’s very exciting,” Attwood, 34, confirmed, adding: “I will be joining you guys on the hosting team, on the other side of the couch.”
“Sitting on this side!” Shephard chimed, before instructing Attwood: “Go on, come over and sit down, see what it’s like.”
As the pair swapped seats, the reality star admitted: “This feels more surreal than anything,” before sitting next to Deeley and asking: “There you go, how do we look?”
“We look amazing,” Deeley beamed, with Shephard commenting: “You look great from over here!”
“Can we do a show together now?” Attwood quipped, to which Deeley replied: “Yes, we should, for sure!”
“So you’re going to be doing a couple of shows in the summer,” Shephard informed viewers.
“A couple of shows in the summer, very excited to be joining you guys,” Attwood enthused, continuing: “It’s a huge honour, I’ve obviously grown up watching this show and being part of the daytime team with Loose Women has been the best experience and this just feels like a very natural progression of that.”
“Love it, great. Well, look, you can do the throw to break with Cat then,” Shephard responded before Attwood shared details of the next episode of her documentary, Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection.
When ITV’s official Instagram page shared the news of Attwood’s new gig, though, it was met with a rather mixed response from viewers.
Many fans were delighted, with one writing: “Amazing choice of presenter! Olivia is an absolute crease! And beautiful.”
“Love her! Great addition to the team. She’ll be fab,” a second predicted.
Someone else shared: “She will make a fabulous addition to the This Morning team.”
However, others weren’t as pleased, with several questioning the show’s supposed money-saving decisions.
“Hmmmmmm? & big pause my intelligence has just been insulted,” one complained.
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Another added: “And yet they are saving money. This show has become boring and the whole of daytime needs a revision and a better refresh than the one they are offering atm.”
“Definitely will stop watching. Olivia is such a mean and horrible person,” someone else fumed. (sic)