Ben Shephard enjoyed some retail therapy with his wife Annie on Monday, hours after making his debut as the new presenter of This Morning.
The presenter, 49, was accompanied by his wife of 20 years as they stepped out hand in hand in west London.
On Monday, Ben made his first appearance as the new permanent presenter of This Morning alongside Cat Deeley, replacing long-time presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, who left the show last year.
Annie, who previously worked in fashion magazines, recently made a career change by starting a company called The House Editor.
After graduating from the London College of Garden Design in Kew Garden, she now successfully designs the interiors of houses and gardens.
Ben Shephard enjoyed some retail therapy with his wife Annie on Monday, hours after making his debut as the new presenter of This Morning
The presenter was accompanied 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 they have two sons, Sam, 18, and Jack, 17.
New presenters Cat and Ben said they were ‘so excited’ when they finally made their debut on Monday.
During the show’s opening moments, Cat said: “We’re so excited to be here, this show has been part of our lives for so long.”
Ben, who left Good Morning Britain last month after ten years, added: “Everyone has been so lovely. thanks to everyone who sent us messages of support.’
Cat and Ben also received messages of support from some of their famous friends, with Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly sharing a sweet tribute to their former SMTV co-host.
ITV hoped the duo would provide stability to viewers after months of uncertainty and a revolving door of presenters in the wake of Holly Willoughby And Shameful departure of Phillip Schofield.
Yet not everyone was impressed with Monday’s scenes, with disappointed viewers complaining that the new presenters were not enough to save the ‘dated’ show.
While many responded positively to Cat and Ben themselves, they were unimpressed that the show had remained largely unchanged.
Annie, who previously worked in fashion magazines, recently made a career change by starting a company called The House Editor
After graduating from the London College of Garden Design in Kew Garden, she now successfully designs the interiors of 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 the new permanent host of This Morning alongside Cat Deeley, replacing long-time hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
ITV hoped the duo would provide stability for viewers after months of uncertainty and a revolving door of presenters
One disappointed viewer summed up X, formerly Twitter: ‘A big new era for #ThisMorning starts today… AAAAAND… they haven’t changed anything on set, the items are all the same and it feels like Ben & Cat are just the latest in a conveyor belt of presenters, rather than feeling like a fresh start, which it arguably should do.”
Others agreed: ‘#ThisMorning ..same old set, theme tune, graphics and segments. Even the same opening credits – I couldn’t even be bothered to add Ben and Cat like the old previous hosts. This was ITV’s chance to rejuvenate the program and put the past behind it – and they missed it.’;
‘9.58am: Head to ITV1 to watch the start of the show from new #ThisMorning presenters Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley. 10:03am: Now that I’ve watched it, I turned it off and back on while watching Young Royals on Netflix. I love Cat & Ben, but I think This Morning just feels old fashioned to me!’;
‘#ThisMorning – Ben & Cat will be great, but the sadness of no set is great – always my favorite bits of a relaunch, new studio sets.’
Discussing the new hosts themselves, others added: “Maybe I had the wrong first impression about Ben and Cat. Give me 2 more hours, but they seem to be doing pretty well #ThisMorning’;
‘I really like Cat and Ben and I’m sure they will be great as the new permanent presenters. I’m just relieved that all the chopping and switching is finally over. Fingers crossed that there is finally some stability. Now just put them on the opening credits! #This morning’;
‘Nice to see Ben Shepherd and Cat Deely presenting #ThisMorning’; ‘I love Ben and I love Cat…things are looking up.#ThisMorning’; ‘The jury is out on Cat, but think Ben brings a level of professionalism that this show has been missing for a long time #thismorning’.
It came five months after Phillip’s 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 been out of the spotlight in recent months since his affair scandal in May, which led to his departure from This Morning after more than two decades on the show.
After much speculation about his private life, his affair finally became public and he admitted he was left ‘broken and ashamed’ but insisted he was not a groomer.
New presenters Cat and Ben said they were ‘so excited’ when they finally made their debut
He said the affair “never came across” as an abuse of power because he and his lover were “buddies.” He told The Sun: “I was unprofessional once in a 41-year career. There is no excuse. No one has done anything wrong except me.”
In his first interview since leaving the broadcaster and This Morning, the 61-year-old presenter said: ‘I didn’t do that, I didn’t look after him.’
‘There are accusations of all kinds of things. It never came across that way because we became friends. I do not know. But of course I understand that there will be a mass judgment, but keeping that in mind, I have never done that before.’
At the time, Phillip issued a number of apologies, including to his co-host 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 kidnap and murder plot and has not been permanently replaced since.