This Morning fans were left cringing into their breakfasts today over the "casual racism" displayed by a British couple stranded on a cruise in the Bahamas.
Lauren Carrick and Joseph Harrison appeared on the ITV daytime programme today to speak about being trapped on the ship for over a month and sometimes made to stay in their rooms for up to 21 hours a day.
The couple, who are crew on the ship, told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield that the atmosphere was "horrible".
The majority of the passengers disembarked amid the pandemic in Miami, however the crew had to stay on.
Lauren was in tears as Joseph admitted that they had had a "rubbish" time isolating in their room and unable to get any fresh air.
The pair confirmed that there was no covid-19 on the ship and had been a "clean ship" since April 19th.
They confirmed that they would soon be able to be let off the ship.
But fans were left stunned when Lauren described time on the ship being "hell" and revealed that someone had taken their own life on one of the other ships within the same company.
Joseph continued: "It's quite a hostile environment on the ship because everyone's in each other's faces all the time, people are just getting angry. It's not a very nice place to be at the moment."
"Now especially, they're trying to transfer Filipinos, Romanians, Ukrainians - they all get charter flights," Lauren said. "I don't know why we're not getting charter flights."
She added: "At the moment, we've just got loads of Indians on board so there's a lot more men than women at the moment so all the girls are just getting stared at.
"You just don't want to leave your cabin. You're getting grief from people, you're getting stared at."
Viewers flocked to Twitter in shock to comment.
One tweeted: "@thismorning the guests stuck on a cruise ship, had my sympathies, until the mild racism. Female guest says “lots of Indians on board, we feel uncomfortable!” Embarrassing. #thismorning."
While another commented: "Hey @thismorning are you going to acknowledge or distance yourself from the cruise couples casual racism that you broadcast live to the nation? #ThisMorning."
A third wrote: "#ThisMorning So the lady on the cruise ships casually slips in a bit of racism and nothing is said. Bigot much."
"What an awful thing to say... this woman’s shown her true colors with this casual racism #ThisMorning," another commented.
Lauren Carrick said in a statement to the Mirror Online: "Following the interview from This Morning on ITV I would like to express my deepest apologies for my comments made on live TV. They have unfortunately been taken in the wrong context. We are not racist people. We have friends of all ethnicities.
"We also work for one of the most culturally diverse companies in the world. ‘Celebrity Cruises’ currently employ people from 65 different nations across the world. I have said from day one the amount of respect I have for the working crew.
"On This Morning, I was purely trying to express that the ship I am currently on is becoming full of men, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity. There has been an increased sense of vulnerability to myself and other female crew members on the ship, due to being stared at more than usual.
"Once again I apologise for the upset that this has caused, and I hope that you all can understand during these unprecedented times."
A spokesperson for Celebrity Cruises told the Mirror Online: "We deeply value the diversity of our crew – from over 60 countries and cultures around the world – and take our responsibility to foster a safe and welcoming environment onboard very seriously, regardless of where they are from."
*This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV
