Holly Willoughby made an emotional return to This Morning on Monday where she admitted she had been left "shaken, troubled, let down and worried" amid the fallout with Phillip Schofield.
But some fans of the ITV programme were not convinced, claiming the presenter 'threw her co-star under the bus' following his departure from ITV after he admitted having an 'unwise but not illegal' affair with a younger production assistant.
And now a body language expert has also dubbed the speech as "inauthentic".
Mamta Saha, who is a British Psychological Society-accredited analyst, told the Mirror that there were a series of giveaways that made the mum-of-three come across as disingenuous, starting with her opening exhale.
"Holly's message comes across as inauthentic. Her exhalation at the start is just not long enough for someone who claims to have been impacted by all of this," top business psychologist Mamta said.
"Her tonality is not pitched deep enough for the message to be deemed as coming from the heart. Her eyes along with her facial expressions do not align with the words she is saying."
After returning from a family holiday in Portugal, Holly appeared on screen for the first time following the shock departure of her former co-host Schofield.
Seated next to her temporary co-host Josie Gibson, she said: "Josie, thank you for being here. Right, deep breath.
"Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil.
"And I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have – shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what's been going on, and full of questions."
The body language expert continued: "There is clear incongruence in the words she is saying and how she is relaying these messages.
"She doesn't pause long enough when she asks, 'How are you?' to the audience. She is rushed to get it over and done with.
"She refers to Phil as 'their, they' - she is detached and not using Phil's name. I can pick up on her extremely high levels of discomfort and angst with this whole situation and she wants to make it clear she is separate from it."
In interviews last week with The Sun and BBC, Phillip confirmed that Holly did not know about the affair, and has apologised for lying to her.
She apparently did not respond to his latest text message to try and make things right.
Dressed in a sleeveless white buttoned dress, Willoughby continued: "You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV, and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process.
"And it's equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health.
"I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal, for the health and wellbeing of everyone."
Finishing off her statement, the 42-year-old thanked viewers for their support, adding: "I hope that as we start this new chapter, and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.
"And from my heart, can I just say thank you for all of your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning.
"Myself, Josie, Dermot (O’Leary), Alison (Hammond), Craig (Doyle), and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every single day to bring you that, this show that we love."
Addressing Holly's closing statement, Mamta added: "You could say that this belittles the deep connection that she claimed to have with Phillip.
"She relaxes as she talks about the 'warmth and magic' that she wants to get back to - clearly this is where she is most comfortable.
"Her eyes are strong and when she is hugged by Josie she expresses no emotion, only a couple of quick 'thank you's' in order to usher Josie to hurry up and move on."
Phillip revealed last week just how detrimental the scandal had been for his mental health, telling The Sun it has had a "catastrophic effect" on his mind and he is getting by "hour by hour".
An overnight report in The Sun suggested Schofield indicated he would not be watching Willoughby's return to screen, with a friend telling the publication he "physically could not watch - he's not there yet".
Holly Willoughby declined to comment on the claims.
