ITV has cleared up confusion regarding Ben Shephard’s reported departure from Good Morning Britain.
On Wednesday (5 August), it was announced that Shephard would be leaving the breakfast TV show as filming resumed on ITV game show Tipping Point.
“This is Ben’s last day,” co-host Kate Garraway told viewers, which caused many fans and news outlets to misinterpret Shephard’s departure from the show as a permanent one.
However, in an email to The Independent, ITV clarified that the presenter was instead taking some time off on holiday to film Tipping Point ,and that he would be returning to the show in the future.
Shephard currently hosts ITV’s early breakfast TV show twice a week, as well as during the summer holidays. He joined the programme in April 2014.
In July, Garraway and Shephard began presenting together again after Kate returned to GMB, having taken three months off work while her husband Derek Draper was in hospital with Covid-19.
Draper has been in hospital since March, when he was placed in an induced coma after contracting the virus.
Towards the end of July, Garraway revealed that her husband’s state had improved, after nurses told her that he was “focused and engaged” while watching Good Morning Britain on television.
When Shephard chimed in with amazement that Draper had watched GMB, Garraway nodded and said: “He engaged on it. We don’t know if it’s the movement of the light or familiar voices.”
Speaking directly to her husband, she added: “Good Morning Derek, if you are watching. We’re all sending you lots of love and so many good wishes. Your own personal Good Morning Britain.”
