This Morning: Alison reveals Ben Shephard will be hosting
Good Morning Britain’s Ben Shephard is reportedly making a permanent move to the This Morning sofa after impressing ITV bosses when he co-hosted last Monday’s episode with Holly Willoughby.
In May, it was reported that main presenter Holly Willoughby would front the show without a permanent co-host following the Philip Schofield scandal.
The 42-year-old is instead now joined by a rotation of co-presenters on the sofa.
The current style is similar to the format that has been in place on Good Morning Britain for the past two years, where Susanna Reid has been the main star since Piers Morgan walked out.
The current rota includes regular Friday This Morning hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, Big Brother winner Josie Gibson, and former Grandstand presenter Craig Doyle.
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However, sources have claimed that Ben is a shoo-in for a permanent role saying: “Ben did really well and the bosses loved his partnership with Holly and there was great feedback from many avenues.
“Ben is known throughout ITV as being very popular with the audiences of whatever shows he hosts.”
“He is also trusted by the public and is much loved within ITV. He has hosted so many shows for the channel,” they claimed to Mail Online.
When contacted for comment by Express.co.uk a spokesperson for ITV confirmed “no decision has been made” regarding Ben replacing Phillip.
They said: “Ben is a much loved and popular presenter on ITV but no such decisions have been made.”
The speculation began after he put in a great performance on Monday’s show.
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It wasn’t his first time presenting as he had previously been a stand-in host on This Morning, covering for Phillip on various occasions between 2005 and 2011.
However, this was the first time he had covered since Phillip’s departure which led people to query if he could possibly become a permanent fixture.
Alison Hammond announced that he would be appearing as a co-host on the show during the closing momnets on Friday September 22.
“Holly [Willoughby] will be back on Monday when she’ll be presenting alongside the lovely Ben Shephard,” she said. This led co-host Dermot O’Leary to chime in, “Yeah, Sheppy.”
At the time ITV said: “Ben has presented This Morning many times over the years and as previously mentioned we are continuing to use a mix of our family of presenters, and this doesn’t affect anything else.”
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