Richard Madeley suffered an 'Accidental Partridge' on Good Morning Britain today when he accidentally ruined a surprise for a young football fan.
The veteran broadcaster, 66, let things slip slightly prematurely live on-air this morning and left co-host Susanna Reid trying to rectify the awkward blunder.
Leeds United fan Dylan, 8, appeared on Good Morning Britain earlier today alongside his parents after a clip of the youngster seemingly being snubbed by Leeds football players went viral online.
The club quickly put out a statement regarding the footage, saying: "Words can’t express how sorry we are that the youngster in the video wearing the Leeds kit is not shown more love from the squad."
But Dylan and his father claim thing weren't quite how they appeared in the clip - telling Richard and Susanna the video footage is "just a tiny snapshot of what happened".
Dylan's dad John explained how many of the Leeds United players fist-bumped and smiled at his son and didn't actually blank the young football fans.
"The angle at which they were standing just didn’t show the smiles. It looks to us from this one vantage point as if they’re completely blanking Dylan, but you’re saying that actually they were giving him a smile," Richard replied during the segment.
"That’s not the case," John clarified. "And if there were a couple of players in the zone, they were in the zone because of this match."
Things then went slightly pear-shaped on the ITV show as Richard unwittingly revealed a surprise Leeds United have planned for their young fan.
Richard told Dylan and his parents: "Leeds are offering Dylan, I’m sure you know this, travel to and from Leeds, what they call the mascot experience, which includes meeting the players in a much more controlled environment."
But the family actually had no idea, with Dylan's dad declaring: "We didn’t know this!"
Richard's co-anchor Susanna quickly chimed in saying: "They didn’t know this!"
"Well why did they tell me this then?" Richard fumed in response.
"This is all news!" Susanna cracked on saying, adding: "We’re announcing this to you now Dylan! So Leeds United have offered you a trip to Elland Road and you will be a mascot at a game."
As a stunned Dylan reflected on the huge surprise, Good Morning Britain viewers took to social media to slam Richard over the gaffe.
"Richard Madeley f**ked up a surprise for a little boy. Idiot #GMB," one fumed on Twitter.
"@GMB Honestly Richard Madeley do you do any interview prep.. Nicely saved Susannah.. #gmb," another added, as a third quipped: "Richard Madeley is literally Alan Partridge."
One angry viewer simply tweeted: "Richard Madeley is the most d***headly d***head of d***headly d***s! #gmb
Over the years, the Good Morning Britain presenter has been compared to Steve Coogan 's comedy character Alan Partridge due to his interview manner and apparent gaffes.
But Richard has previously hit back and pointed out that sometimes the humorous comparisons and jokes can be taken out of context at times.
He admitted that he doesn't care about the jibes and accepts it's "part and parcel of the job".
"If people wanna take what I say - a quip or a comment - and compare me to Alan Partridge - good luck to them," he told the Daily Mail in 2021.
"I think some quotes are often taken so ludicracy out of context that it's a bit unfair."
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