Susanna Reid was forced to pull out of presenting Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain after she lost her voice following Tuesday night’s National Television Awards 2023.
The ITV morning stalwart was forced to call in Charlotte Hawkins, 48, last minute to fill in alongside Ed Balls, 56.
The broadcaster had travelled to the ITV studios but instead of appearing in front of cameras, she spoke from her dressing room where she explained she didn’t want to “inflict” her voice on viewers for three hours.
The 52-year-old attended the NTAs on Tuesday evening but admitted she didn’t know how she lost her voice as she was the first person to leave and doesn’t drink or smoke.
Announcing the last-minute change, Hawkins told viewers: “This is a bit of an unscheduled appearance for me this morning.”
Balls explained that he didn’t immediately suspect a problem when he arrived at 4.30am as he walked past Reid, who was in her dressing room getting ready.
To which Hawkins interjected: “You saw Susanna there, but we couldn’t hear her.”
After Balls agreed that she sounded “croaky”, the pair spoke to Reid directly from her dressing room and asked how she was doing.
Sounding rather ill, Reid replied: “I’m fine, I just can’t speak.”
When asked how she had lost her voice, a very croaky-sounding Susanna responded: “I don’t know. I don’t know if it was the heatwave inflaming my vocal cords?
“It’s funny because it was the NTAs last night and when I got in my cab to leave the driver said, ‘You’re the very first person to leave the NTAs. You’re obviously not partying.’
“And of course, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. So, there’s absolutely no reason I can understand. But I’ve completely lost my voice.”
Hawkins went on to say Reid losing her voice was “ironic” given that she’s doesn’t drink alcohol and exited the NTAs early.
Reid went on to apologise to viewers for Wednesday’s absence, saying: “Thank you Charlotte for stepping in. I did not want to inflict this on our wonderful viewers for a whole three hours.”
