A chirpy Alex Beresford beatboxed today as he returned to Good Morning Britain for the first time since his on-air row with Piers Morgan – after which the presenter quit.
The weatherman, 40, appeared in high spirits as he ended his 10 day hiatus, which followed his war of words with the tough-talking TV host over his views on Meghan Markle.
Morgan, 55, stormed off the set during the row and later quit after ITV chiefs asked him to apologise for earlier comments about the Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Beresford had not featured on the morning show since the argument and Morgan’s subsequent resignation on March 9.
However an ITV source told MailOnline this was due to pre-planned rotas and had ‘nothing to do with’ his row with Morgan.
The weatherman appeared upbeat on his return today, as he beatboxed for presenters Charlotte Hawkins and Kate Garraway.
Alex Beresford revealed he did not want Piers Morgan to quit the show after their heated on-air debate about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – in which the presenters stormed out of the studio
Alex Beresford appeared upbeat on his return, as he beatboxed for presenters Charlotte Hawkins and Kate Garroway
The segment came after Charlotte Hawkins (pictured left with presenter Kate Garraway), 45, had earlier attempted to beatbox in response to a viral video of a cockatoo in the US seamlessly imitating the sound
The segment came after Hawkins, 45, had earlier attempted to beatbox in response to a viral video of a cockatoo in the US seamlessly imitating the sound.
Beresford later returned to his role of presenting the weather as the GMB group battled on without Morgan and his box-office presence – which helped the show reach record viewer figures.
Earlier this month Beresford revealed he did not want the straight-talking TV host to quit the show after their heated on-air debate about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The pair clashed over Morgan’s comments about Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
Morgan stormed off set during their conversation before stepping down from the ITV programme permanently later that day.
It was later reported he had been asked to apologise by ITV bosses over comments made about the Duchess of Sussex’s Oprah interview.
Morgan had claimed he ‘did not believe a word’ Meghan had said during the explosive two hour broadcast, in which the Duchess had revealed she had contemplated taking her own life.
Morgan’s comments sparked anger from mental health charities and a record number of complaints to regulator Ofcom.
Morgan later clarified on the show that he was making reference to claims by the Duchess that members of the Royal Household refused to allow her to seek help, rather than her mental health battle.
Meanwhile, a petition aiming to get Morgan back on Good Morning Britain last night reached more than 255,767.
The petition comes as it was revealed this week that GMB lost a further 100,000 viewers as it recorded its joint lowest ratings over the past month.
Figures reveal the show has lost nearly 40 per cent of its audience since Morgan sensationally quit.
The ITV morning programme attracted roughly 800,000 viewers on Wednesday, which was the joint lowest recorded by ratings service Overnights.TV over the previous four weeks along with the Fridays of February 26 and March 5.
The audience was also 700,000 below the 1.49million who watched BBC Breakfast at the same time on Wednesday, and it comes after GMB pulled in roughly 900,000 viewers this Tuesday and Monday, and 850,000 last Friday.
The GMB audience is now down by 500,000 from the 1.29million who tuned in on Tuesday of last week – which was the first time the ITV broadcast had beaten its long-time rival BBC Breakfast, which had 1.25million.
The changing figures over the past week suggest GMB has lost hundreds of thousands of viewers who would either not normally be watching breakfast TV, or who had switched from watching BBC to ITV in the morning.
But sources at ITV pointed out that the comparison was being made in the context of last week having the two highest-rated shows since GMB launched in 2014, on the Tuesday and Wednesday.
The latter was presented by Ranvir Singh and Susanna Reid. The sources added that all GMB audience figures are still up year-on-year. Yesterday was also the 14th time this year that the GMB audience has been below 800,000.
ITV’s Good Morning Britain has now lost nearly 40 per cent of its audience since Piers Morgan sensationally quit last week
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in conversation with Oprah Winfrey in their interview which first aired on CBS on March 7
A GMB spokesman told MailOnline yesterday: ‘In real terms GMB share of viewing continues to grow. This week so far is up 7 per cent when compared to the same days last year, and year to date share of viewing is up 18 per cent when compared to the same period in 2020.’
Meanwhile ITV’s share price yesterday was up by 1.3 per cent or 1.55p to nearly £1.24 on the FTSE 250 index in London, having fallen to just above £1.22 at the close on Wednesday.
More than 254,000 people have now signed three separate Change.org petitions demanding Morgan should be brought back to GMB, with the totals this morning standing at 51,763, 153,553 and 49,125.
GMB was hosted on Wednesday by Reid and Ben Shephard, who was mocked for urging the Royal Family and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to ‘share their truth’ and ‘hopefully start healing’ after private talks were leaked.
It comes amid a row between US talk show host Gayle King and Morgan, after King backed Beresford over the row.
Miss King said: ‘Kudos to his co-anchor, they said it was the weather guy.
‘I wonder if he was the weather guy, but they described him as a weather guy, who spoke out and really let Piers have it on the air, and then Piers stormed off, and now Piers is no longer on the air there.’
In the same conversation, broadcaster King, a friend of the Sussexes, claimed the Duke and Duchess had a deal with CBS and ITV to postpone their bombshell interview with if Prince Philip had died.
She also sparked anger by disclosing on American television that Prince Harry and Prince William had spoken over the phone, but that the talk had been ‘unproductive’.
Morgan has slammed the broadcaster for acting as a ‘PR mouthpiece’ for the Sussexes to ‘facilitate their ongoing public trashing of our Royal Family’.
He told the CBS This Morning presenter last night to do her ‘job as a journalist and ask them about all the lies they told’ in their interview with Oprah Winfrey after it aired on March 7.
Susanna Reid ridicules Piers Morgan’s replacement Ben Shephard after he calls for the Royals to ‘share their truth’
ITV presenter Ben Shephard was mocked by his Good Morning Britain co-hosts this week for urging the Royal Family and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to ‘share their truth’ and ‘hopefully start healing’ after their private talks were leaked.
Shephard, who added that it was important for all parties ‘to be honest with each other’, was accused by Susanna Reid of ‘sounding like a Californian therapist’ while Ranvir Singh joked that he needed to get his ‘teeth whitened’.
The terms used by Shephard have strong similarities to those of Meghan and Harry during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, which first aired on CBS on March 7, and then on ITV the following night.
His language also comes in stark contrast to that of Piers Morgan, who quit the show on Tuesday last week after refusing to believe Meghan Markle’s claims made during her Oprah Winfrey interview with Prince Harry.
Morgan’s resignation has sparked a dramatic exodus of 400,000 viewers, with the GMB audience dropping by a third in the space of a week, leaving it trailing behind its main rival BBC Breakfast by 600,000 in the ratings war.
The ITV morning show has pulled in less than 900,000 viewers for its past three days – significantly down from the 1.29million who tuned in on Tuesday last week for what turned out to be Morgan’s final programme.
That figure represented the first time the ITV broadcast had beaten its long-time rival BBC Breakfast, which had 1.25million, but GMB has since lost 400,000 viewers in a week to fall well behind in the morning ratings war.
Yesterday GMB had 890,000 viewers with an audience share of 23 per cent, compared to the 1.57million tuning into the BBC with a 42 per cent share. The BBC’s peak saw 2.34million watching at 8.15am. On the same day last year – Monday, March 16, 2020 – GMB had an average of 900,000 compared to the BBC’s 1.81million.
ITV presenter Ben Shephard (left) mocked by his Good Morning Britain co-host Susanna Reid (right) on today’s show on ITV
Standing in the outspoken former host, Shephard, 46, told GMB viewers this morning: ‘It feels like this is the sort of thing that’s not going to be sorted out in one phone call. We don’t know how much is going on either.
‘But if there’s been such a hugely seismic moment within a family that has been suddenly thrown, very personal things have been thrown into the spotlight, it’s not going to be sorted out quickly. It’s going to take a while for everybody to be able to share their truth and be able to be honest with each other and hopefully start healing, because that’s what we all want.’
Reid told him: ‘You sound like a Californian therapist, Ben.’ He replied: ‘Maybe I should be’, before she added: ‘Speaking a bit of truth and healing.’ And Singh joked: ‘You need a bit of tan, Ben… get your teeth whitened.’
Meghan used the word ‘truth’ seven times during her interview which was first shown on March 7, while Oprah told her she was speaking ‘your truth’ – and the Duchess also talked about giving an ‘honest’ answer relating to the row over Archie’s potential skin tone.
The word ‘healing’ was yesterday used by Meghan’s friend Gayle King on US breakfast show CBS This Morning, when she spoke of Harry’s talks with his brother Prince Charles and their father William – and, during the Oprah chat, Harry said of his relationship with William: ‘Time heals all things, hopefully.’
Shephard’s choice of words set a different tone from the language of Morgan, whose remarks sparked more than 41,000 complaints to broadcast regulator Ofcom, which also received a complaint on behalf of the Duchess of Sussex herself, who had earlier also sent a formal complaint to ITV.