Good Morning Britain was hit with criticism during Tuesday’s show over a deepfake scam segment.
In the recent episode, presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls interviewed guest Nikki MacLeod, 77, live from Edinburgh after she was scammed out of £17,000 by someone pretending to be a woman named ‘Alla Morgan’, who claimed to be working on an oil rig in the North Sea.
She met the scammer in an online chat group. ‘Alla Morgan’ sent Nikki personal messages using convincing AI-generated videos and Nikki appeared on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain to raise awareness of sophisticated scammers.
Despite the important topic, viewers were left confused as Ed repeatedly attempted to question Nikki while she spoke over him. Throughout the interview, they talked over each other, prompting some audience members to describe the segment as ‘excruciating’ to watch, leading to the interview being cut short, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Taking to Twitter, now X, one person said: “That was excruciating #GMB“, a different account put: “Ed can’t get a word in edgeways”, another put: “Think Ed wants to end the interview #gmb” while another added: “She’s totally ignoring Ed!”
However, after the interview, Susanna, 54, clarified that there had been a technical mishap as Nikki’s earpiece had come out, which meant she couldn’t hear Ed and didn’t realise she was speaking over him.
Susanna explained: “We apologise to Nikki because unfortunately she lost her earpiece which meant she couldn’t hear what you were saying, Ed, that’s why we had to just interrupt her.”
It comes as Good Morning Britain turned awkward on Monday as Ed was called out by a guest for looking ‘baffled’. In the episode, Ed and Susanna were chatting with comedian Jenny Eclair about her ongoing tour. The interview hit a slightly awkward note when Jenny noticed Ed didn’t catch one of her jokes.
Jenny, 64, pointed it out, saying: “Ed’s looking a bit blank, I don’t think he got that joke!” She then felt compelled to repeat the joke for clarity.
Still not catching on, Ed prompted Susanna to tease: “Let’s hope you don’t have to explain the other jokes!” while Ed himself quipped: “I can’t wait to come [to the tour].”
To which Jenny responded with a playful jab: “No, please don’t, and if you do, please sit at the back so I can’t see your baffled little face.”
She continued: “I don’t mind, sometimes you get some people who have great faces for watching comedy and then there’s people like Ed, who just go: ‘Oh, what? What, I don’t get?'” as Jenny tried once more to explain the joke.
This led Ed to humorously confess: “To be honest, I’ve no idea what’s going on. Where am I?” Following the interview, Jenny took to Twitter, now X, to write: “Job jobbed! I told a joke that Ed didn’t understand! Not my finest TV moment- ha!”
Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on both ITV and ITV X.
Get UK politics insight with our free daily email briefing straight to your inbox
