Phillip Schofield predicted a response from This Morning viewers - and he wasn't wrong. The presenter was back at the helm of the ITV daytime programme on Thursday (March 2) alongside Holly Willoughby as they appeared for their final show of the week.
Kicking off the penultimate This Morning of the week, Phillip, 60, and Holly, 42, were joined by their two guests for the latest 'This Morning's View' segment which sees them talking through the latest stories hitting the headlines as well as the quirkier tales making the news.
And during the segment, the foursome were served a risotto made with squirrel by chef Phil Vickery after a wildlife campaign group claimed grey squirrels should be served in restaurants. Exmoor Squirrel Project have encouraged people to eat grey squirrels in a bid to help save the native red squirrel.
Holly was left gagging over the dish and refused to take a bite while Phillip tried the squirrel risotto and buttermilk fried squirrel, cooked by Phil in the studio. The mum-of-three said: "No thank you," as she was offered the food before she later shared her thoughts. "It's so weird, the thought of it, I can already feel it in my throat... makes me feel a bit" before holding her hand against her mouth as if she was going to throw up.
"I understand this is a highly-emotive subject and if you are a vegetarian or vegan, then this is horrific to imagine," Phillip said, before continuing: "I don't have a problem with taste, texture or anything - I wouldn't know what it was!" He added: "I mean it could be chicken, it could be a little bit of pork."
Holly had also earlier said: "It’s meant to be really good for you. It’s lower fat content, it’s a great source of protein, so it’s meant to be really, really good."
Earlier, after sharing that chef Phil would be cooking squirrel, Phillip said: "Now, we ought to explain this before Twitter explodes," and he was right as This Morning viewers flocked to social media to share their horror.
@gillypants tweeted: "#Thismorning Really.. squirrel.. I won’t be watching, what’s next cat ?? Shameful." @Crazier fumed: "#thismorning Squirrel risotto? That’s appalling." @DavidMackayy wrote: "A humane way to save the squirrels is to… eat them? Yeah ok #thismorning."
@princesseilss_ added: "Thoughts on @thismorning today and eating squirrels?? Brave… I’m not sure I could do it!! #ThisMorning #squirrel." But @Boppity_Boo34 said: "Phil is right though there will be outrage on here about them eating squirrel yet we eat little lamb and cow etc #ThisMorning."
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