This Morning presenter Isla Traquair has hit back at trolls criticising her decision to visit Tenerife to cover the case of missing 19-year-old Jay Slater.
Traquair, 44, recently flew to the popular holiday destination where Slater was last seen on June 17, to retrace his steps for a segment on the ITV show.
Her decision to report from the island sparked outrage on social media. In response to the criticism, Traquair took to TikTok to explain her actions and defend herself.
In a video, she stated: "I don't normally respond to trolls and comments online and I personally don't really care about some of the things that have been said about me.
"But what I would like to do is clarify some facts so I'm not having to respond to all the different comments."
"I'm a journalist," she continued. "I have been a journalist since I was 16 years old. I'm vastly experienced. I've won awards for what I do.
"And what do journalists do? We go to the location of a story and we report on them. I find it rather hilarious that has become the focus of a story."
Traquair explained that her trip to Tenerife was prompted by an invitation to speak about the case on This Morning. She said she conducted all possible enquiries from London before deciding to travel.
She also revealed that Slater's mother, Debbie Duncan, had specifically requested to speak with her, which led to her heading to the island.
However, Traquair also revealed that amid the backlash she had some support. "Thank you to all those lovely people who know who I am, who know my job, who know my integrity for writing nice things.
"I genuinely really don't care about the stupid comments because they're written by people who have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. And they can go and just maybe spend their time doing something more useful."
Slater was last seen in the morning of June 17 by the owner of an Airbnb he had returned to with two men after a rave.
He had missed a bus back to the property. His friend, Lucy Law, reported that he'd called her shortly after he was last seen, saying he was thirsty, had no water, and only one percent battery left on his phone.
A GoFundMe page set up by his family to "get Jay Slater home" has so far raised more than £47,000.
