Love him or hate him, Piers Morgan is officially the public’s number one secret crush – much to the surprise of his Good Morning Britain co-hosts.
Morgan, who is currently on a short break from the ITV breakfast show, topped Heat magazine's annual list of clandestine crushes ahead of Valentine’s Day.
The controversial broadcaster got more votes than the rest of the top five combined – which included his daytime TV rival Phillip Schofield, who ranked fourth, Declan Donnelly in third and comedian Lee Mack in second place.
Revealing the results on Tuesday’s show, Richard Arnold quipped: “If you’re just waking up this morning, you’re hiding under a big rock…get back under it because Piers is officially you’re favourite crush!”
Richard Madeley was determined to rain on Morgan’s parade but clarifying that a “secret” crush could mean people are “ashamed” of their affections.
“Don’t take this away from him!” joked Kate Garraway. “He’s had a lot on his plate. We’ve only just got over the National Television Awards. Happier place.”
Morgan used his acceptance speech to pay tribute to his social media enemy Lord Sugar, as well as claiming he “feels sorry” for Kanye West.
The 53-year-old said: “My particular thoughts at this difficult moment are with Lord Sugar who was one of the other people on the longlist. To be fair to him he’s had a very massive crush on his face for quite some time from a 2-ton anvil that landed on it 50 years ago, rendering it such an abomination.
“I feel for Kanye West, poor old Kim Kardashian’s woken up to the fact that more people fancy me than her husband, that’s not a good morning for her.”
His co-host Susanna Reid joked that she “wasn’t surprised” at his victory because nobody “in their right might would publicly declare they had a crush” while his wife Celia Walden quipped that “people are weird”.
This Morning and Strictly Come Dancing star Dr Ranj was number 25 in the secret crushes list while King of the Jungle Harry Redknapp was number nine. And McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were six and three respectively.
The Results: Heat’s Secret Crush 2019:
1. Piers Morgan
2. Lee Mack
3. Declan Donnelly
4. Phillip Schofield
5. Dave Vitty
6. Ant McPartlin
7. Noel Fielding
8. Arg
9. Harry Redknapp
10. Greg Davies
