Holly Willoughby thanked a number of members of the This Morning family during her emotional statement on the Phillip Schofield in a possible nod to her former co-host's replacement.
Josie Gibson stepped in to present alongside Holly on Monday while Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary fronted the show together for the majority of Holly's extended break
Craig Doyle joined Alison on two occasions over the past two weeks while Dermot enjoyed some time off for his birthday.
When Holly returned on Monday, she began the show with an emotional speech addressing her former co-host's admission he'd had an affair with a younger colleague which led to him stepping down from ITV.
Holly began: "Good morning. Josie, thank you for being here.
"Deep breath - firstly, are you OK? I hope so. It feels very strange sitting here without Phil and I imagine you might be 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.
"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. 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."
Holly went on to tell viewers that she, Josie, Dermot, Alison and Craig as well as other members of the This Morning family will "work hard" to deliver the show.
She said: "And from my own heart, can I just say thank you for all of your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison and Craig and every single person on this show will continue to work hard every single day to bring you the show that we love."
Could Holly be hinting at Phillip's replacement by naming these four presenters?
The team at OLBG have revealed Alison is the favourite to replace Phillip with odds of 6/4 while Dermot is in second place at 11/4.
Josie is next in line at 7/1 but Rylan Clark, who previously presented on This Morning, could also be in the running at 9/1.
