Ben Shephard enjoyed a spot of retail therapy with his wife Annie on Monday, just hours after making his debut as This Morning’s new host.
The presenter, 49, was joined by his wife of 20 years as they stepped out hand in hand in west London.
On Monday, Ben made his first appearance as This Morning’s new regular host alongside Cat Deeley, replacing long-standing hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, who left the show last year.
Annie, who previously worked in fashion magazines, has recently enjoyed a career change by starting a company called The House Editor.
After graduating from Kew Gardens London College of Garden Design, she now successfully designs house and garden interiors.
Ben Shephard enjoyed a spot of retail therapy with his wife Annie on Monday, hours after his debut as This Morning’s new host
The presenter was joined by his wife of 20 years as they stepped out hand-in-hand in west London hours after his first appearance on the ITV daytime show
She and Ben married in 2004 and have two sons, Sam, 18, and Jack, 17.
New hosts Cat and Ben gushed they were ‘so excited’ when they finally made their debut on Monday.
Cat said during the show’s opening hours: “We are so excited to be here, this show has been a part of our lives for so long.”
Ben, who left Good Morning Britain last month after 10 years, added: ‘Everyone has been so kind. thanks to everyone who sent us messages of support.’
Cat and Ben also received messages of support from some of their celebrity friends, with Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly sharing a sweet tribute to their former SMTV co-host.
ITV have hoped the duo will provide stability for viewers after months of uncertainty and a revolving door of presenters in the wake of Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield scandalous departures.
Yet not everyone was impressed with the scenes on Monday, with underwhelmed viewers complaining that the new hosts weren’t enough to save the ‘dated’ show.
While many responded positively to Cat and Ben themselves, they were not impressed that the show had largely remained unchanged.
Formerly working in fashion magazines, Annie has recently enjoyed a career change by starting a company called The House Editor
After graduating from Kew Gardens London College of Garden Design, she now successfully designs interiors for houses and gardens
Ben and Annie married in 2004 and have two sons, Sam, 18, and Jack, 17
On Monday, Ben made his first appearance as This Morning’s new regular host alongside Cat Deeley, replacing long-standing hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby
ITV have hoped the duo will provide stability for viewers after months of uncertainty and a revolving door of presenters
On X, formerly Twitter, one disappointed viewer summed up: ‘Big new era for #ThisMorning starts today… AAAAAND…they haven’t changed anything on set, things are all the same and it feels like Ben & Cat is just the latest in the presenters’ tapes instead of feeling like a fresh start, which it probably should.’
Others agreed: ‘#ThisMorning ..same old sets, theme tune, graphics and segments. Even the same opening titles – couldn’t even be bothered to add Ben and Cat as the old former hosts. This was ITV’s chance to rejuvenate the program and move on from the past – and they missed it.’;
‘9.58am: Tune in to ITV1 to see new #ThisMorning hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley start the show. 10.03: Now I’ve seen it, I’ve turned it off and on again watching Young Royals on Netflix. Love Cat & Ben but I think This Morning just feels dated to me tbh!’;
‘#ThisMorning – Ben & Cat will be great but the sadness of no set is strong – always my favorite bits of a relaunch, new studio sets.’
Discussing the new hosts themselves, others added: ‘Maybe had the wrong first impression of Ben and Cat. Give me another 2 hours but they seem to be doing pretty well #ThisMorning’;
‘I really like Cat and Ben and I’m sure they will be fantastic as the new regular presenters. Just relieved to finally have an end to all the chopping and changing, fingers crossed that there is finally some stability. Now it’s just a matter of getting them on the opening titles! #This morning’;
‘Lovely to see Ben Shepherd and Cat Deely presenting #ThisMorning’; ‘I love Ben & I love Cat …things are looking up. #ThisMorning’; ‘The jury is out on Cat but think Ben adds a level of professionalism this show has long lacked #thismorning’.
It came five months after Phillips’ departure after his affair with a young male showrunner was made public, followed by claims of an increasingly strained relationship with his co-host.
Phillip has ducked out of the limelight in recent months since his affair scandal in May, which led to his departure from This Morning after more than 20 years on the show.
After much speculation about his private life, his affair finally went public and he admitted he had been left “devastated and ashamed” but insisted he was not a groomer.
New hosts Cat and Ben gushed they were ‘so excited’ to finally make their debut
He said the affair ‘never arose’ as an abuse of power because he and his lover were ‘mates’. He told The Sun: ‘I was unprofessional once in a 41-year career. There is no excuse. Nobody did anything wrong but me.’
In his first interview since leaving the broadcaster and This Morning, the 61-year-old presenter said: ‘I didn’t, I didn’t (cut him).
“There are accusations of all sorts of things. It never came across that way because we had become lovers. I don’t know about that. But of course I understand that there will be a massive sentence, but with that in mind I have never exercised it.’
At the time, Phillip offered a series of apologies, including to his co-presenter of 14 years Holly and his wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lowe.
It comes after Holly left the show last October ‘for the sake of her family’ after discovering she was the target of a foiled kidnapping and murder plot and has since not been permanently replaced.