Ben Shephard shares emotional message as he takes break from ITV's This Morning
This Morning presenter Ben Shephard penned an emotional message to his co-stars, including Cat Deeley, as he left the ITV show behind.
This Morning: Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard open the show
Ben Shephard has said goodbye in an emotional message to his co-host Cat Deeley as he signed off from ITV's This Morning for summer. The regular breakfast TV presenters, who hosts the fan favourite show from Monday to Thursday each week, are set to be replaced as they take a break until September.
The former Good Morning Britain host took to Instagram to say thanks for his time on the show. He and Cat took over the helm of This Morning back in March, when they were brought in to replace Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
Sharing some snaps of his time on the ITV sofa, Ben penned: "Well that was quite the few months!!! Thanks to everyone who has joined us, thanks to the brilliant @thismorning team for their endless enthusiasm and patience, thanks to the amazing @catdeeley for the hugs, the laughs, and especially the drinks, but mostly thanks to all our amazing viewers for your support, messages, interaction and humour."
He added an update on when he will be back on TV screens in the morning, as he continued: "We’ll be back in September but I know you’ll be in great hands with all the amazing TM family over the summer. Oh and massive thanks to @kenmckayphoto for all these brilliant snaps!!"
Fans wished Ben well as he began his time off, and gushed over how much they enjoyed watching him. One wrote: "You were fantastic. Such a treat to wake up each morning to such warmth (and muscles) x".
READ MORE This Morning's Ben Shephard shares emotional post as fans say same thing [LATEST]
Another added: "Love watching This Morning Ben with you and Kat but miss you terribly on GMB, especially with Kate. Happy holidays!"
A third penned: "Ben, Cat, You are both doing a brilliant job, it’s lively, interesting, funny at times, 2 cracking lovely people doing a cracking job, keep up the good work, enjoy your break will miss you but look forward to seeing you in September xx".
Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary will reportedly remain on This Morning as the show's main hosts this summer, stepping in to fill the full-time roles of Cat and Ben.
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It was rumoured that Craig Doyle and Josie Gibson would possibly be stepping into the roles over summer, but a source has now confirmed that it will be Alison and Dermot.
It was reported that a source told The Sun: "Viewers love Alison and Dermot so locking them in for the summer was a priority.
"Josie and Craig are great but execs couldn’t risk losing their best names when a spotlight's on the show." They added: "It's hoped a decent summer run from Ali and Dermot could get things off to a head-start when Cat and Ben return in September."
