Piers Morgan told Good Morning Britain viewers to use the remote and turn over after complaints about his ranting were aired on Twitter.
The formidable ITV host read out a Tweet live on air which complained about his segment earlier in the show with Dr Hilary Jones.
The Tweet read: "Watching @DrHilaryJones on @GMB get up early to sit and watch @piersmorgan shout about lockdown... Would have liked to hear Dr Hilary talk. He just sat and nodded..."
In a passionate response, Piers said: "People who want to rant in the morning, 'I don't know why I'm watching this, he's driving me mad', Morgan shouting and interrupting.'"
Until this point, his regular co-host Susanna Reid was mouthing in agreement with viewers, until Piers said: "Why are you watching, you people?"
Susanna, overcome with a look of panic, attempted to stop Piers from adding: "If you don't want to watch, if you're finding that annoying, take the thing called a remote control, and watch old Snoozeville on the other side.
In the video above, you can see the moment Piers told viewers: "Just go, do it, now!"
"Don't", pleaded Susanna before Piers said: "Take your remote... here's what's going to happen when we check the ratings tomorrow, from this point on, our ratings go up, not down.
"Because, when people do that, they don't."
In a mocking voice, Piers added: "They stick with their remote and go 'Oh, I want to carry on being annoyed by him!'"
Susanna was keen to say: "You're like Marmite aren't you?", to which Piers said: "I love Marmite! I've just had Marmite actually!"
Viewers responded to Piers' rant on Twitter by saying: "You ARE bloody annoying!!#piersmorgan #GMB" with another adding: "@piersmorgan avoid #GMB from this little slime ball! Shouting at people on TV for watching and telling us to turn over, so I did."
Others supported Piers: "Gotta love @piersmorgan always quick with comebacks" and, "Seriously people find piers annoying? yes sometimes he can be but you know what he speaks the truth! #gmb.
Good Morning Britain returns at 6am every weekday morning on ITV.
