This Morning fans were left cringing on Friday after a “body shaming” comment made in a Carol Vorderman phone-in made viewers fume for Alison Hammond.
The former Countdown host appeared on the ITV magazine show earlier this month to provide love advice to viewers calling in with questions about casual dating.
She featured alongside her pal Gyles Brandreth when Carol opened up about her love life and told how she felt worries about casual dating were a “nonsense taboo that should be broken”.
At the time she added: "I’ve never felt freer. So I have ignored the looking for one person and I have a number of what I’ve called 'special friends.'"
Following a lively response to her views, her comments were brought up about on today's show.
"I’m a great believer in chapters in life and some are extended chapters and some aren’t," she said to presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary. "And I found, as I said last time, I had a massive response from women that the last 10 years or so I’ve lived a much freer life. I have special friends I’m not looking for one person."
The 61-year-old telly personality then took viewers’ calls on the subject, which is when things took a turn and viewers were left reeling on behalf of Alison.
Alison, Dermot, Gyles and Carol were hearing from a caller named Dionne who was hoping for some advice on how to find love at 57. However, she admitted to struggling with her size.
The caller horrified viewers as she said: "I don't like being single and, I have to say, Alison probably understands me in this next sentence; I am a plus size lady and that seems to go against what a lot of them men out there are going for."
Viewers were appalled by the comment which led many to take to Twitter to fume at the caller for “body-shaming” the popular presenter.
"Stop body shaming Alison #ThisMorning,” one viewer demanded, while another wrote: “I think @AlisonHammond has lost weight in my opinion #thismorning.”
Another commented: “'Alison will understand me here, I am plus size' F***in hell Dionne the shade #thismorning," before claiming that the caller was "body shaming" Alison.
A four replied: "Exactly she doesn't need to be reminded she's overweight."
But Alison kept to her usual fun, professional demeanour as she brushed off the comment and offered some heartfelt advice to the caller.
"If that person's not into you, then that's not your person," she told her. "There's plenty of other people who are going to love all that fluff babes, they're going to love all that juice, trust me."
Alison continued: "A lot of them say they don't like it, but when they have a taste of it, they absolutely love it.
“Don't even worry about that, put it - the bigness - to the back of your mind and let your personality come through because once they see who you truly are, I'm telling you, they will fall in love with you."
