A Good Morning Britain presenter suffered an embarrassing on-air mishap when he didn’t realise the cameras were rolling due to a technical issue.
Thursday morning’s episode saw Richard Madeley and Kate Garraway hosting the breakfast news programme, with the pair discussing the main headlines of the day.
During a segment about a “tragic incident” on the Essex coast on Wednesday night – where it was later announced that a teenage girl and woman in her 40s had died – the presenters attempted to cut to reporter Jay Akbar, who was presenting live from the scene.
“Jay Akbar, can you give us the latest?” Madeley said, with Akbar, who was stood at West Mersea beach near Colchester, clearly unaware that he was on air and unable to hear the anchor.
Instead, he stared blankly into the camera, before turning his head to audibly yawn. Apologising on Akbar’s behalf, Madeley said: “Oh I’m sorry, he’s obviously got comms issues there. We will try again later.”
The pair were more successful when they returned to Akbar minutes later, with Madeley saying: “Our reporter, as we saw, is there, hopefully we’ve got our communications back. Akbar was then able to present the segment without issue.
ITV’s flagship news show, which airs from 6am to 9am on weekdays, found itself at the centre of another awkward on-air moment earlier this week.
During Wednesday morning’s episode, Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick was overheard calling his early morning interview with Ed Balls and Susanna Reid on the show ”a waste of time”.
Appearing via video call to discuss the scandal surrounding Reform leader Nigel Farage’s £5 million gift from Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne, Jenrick ended the interview and, not realising his microphone was still on, could be heard saying: “That was a waste of time.”
After a couple of seconds of silence, Balls retorted: “I think it wasn’t a waste of time. Robert Jenrick gave us very clear answers on the police investigation; it’s not a waste of time for him to make clear that he believes there’s no police investigation. It was good he came on the programme.”
