The journalist and TV presenter has confessed woman&home how she took “work experience student” Ed Sheeran under her wing backstage at ITV. She made the hilarious blunder backstage at ITV’s London studios before global pop icon Ed appeared for the first time on breakfast show Daybreak in October 2012.
Ranvir, who graces the cover of our February issue, recalled, “I was in an area called Lovey's Cafe, just outside the studio, and preparing for my next segment when I saw this dishevelled young lad with ginger hair and headphones in his ears.
“Nobody was with him and I thought he was there on work experience, so I took it upon myself to be nice. I said, ‘Oh, hello. Do you know where the toilets are? Do you need anything? I hope you're having a nice morning’. He replied, ‘Yeah. I'm fine, thanks’.
“About 25 minutes later, in walks this young lad on work experience. He gives an absolutely stunning acoustic performance, which gave me goosebumps all over my body. The silly thing was, he was on the show because he had a smash-hit album. It was very embarrassing, but very, very cool to see him perform in a very small room, back in the early days. He certainly wasn't there for work experience!”
Sharing her best-ever celebrity moments exclusively with us, Ranvir, 48, also described a side-splitting moment in the company of award-winning Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston who swore live on GMB during a July 2017 interview with Ranvir and her colleagues Kate Garraway and Richard Arnold.
She said, “I’d watched Breaking Bad religiously. I absolutely loved that series, so it was the first time I can ever remember feeling nervous or starstruck interviewing somebody.
"Then he accidentally said s*** on air when Kate asked him what it was like hitting his peak in his 50s. When he swore, we all started laughing. It was a favourite funny moment with an absolute iconic star of one of the biggest streaming series ever."
Ranvir went on to praise Matthew Modine - Papa in Netflix’s Stranger Things - who was a guest on GMB in October 2023.
She said, “My son and I are such big fans of Stranger Things so I was beside myself with excitement. Off air, I had the absolute pleasure of being able to talk to Matthew at length about series five of Stranger Things, about his relationship with Eleven and writers The Duffer Brothers [Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer]. He told me all about his insight and his insider knowledge of Stranger Things and gave me loads of time. What a true gentleman, a really thoughtful and brilliant man. He also did a little video message for Tushaan, which was very exciting.”
Meeting and interviewing Cynthia Erivo recently, ahead of the release of Wicked sequel Wicked: For Good was another pinch me moment for Ranvir.
She explained, “Cynthia Erivo is a truly exceptional human being and I'd read her memoir, Simply More: A Book for Anyone Who Has Been Told They're Too Much, which was about all the people who've been told to be quiet, calm down and be smaller.
"She talked about all the hardships she faced in her life as a young black woman trying to make her way. What a treat to be in the presence of such beautiful energy of Cynthia Erivo. Her singing makes me cry every single time.”
Read Ranvir’s exclusive interview in the February issue of woman&home, on sale now.
