This Morning viewers were left "disgusted" by remarks made by Vanessa Feltz about the impact of the cost of living crisis on children in struggling families.
Speaking to hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary alongside Gyles Brandreth on Monday's episode of the ITV show, Vanessa angered viewers after responding to a heartbreaking statistic read out by Alison that one in four children are planning to offer up their pocket money to their families over the festive period to help cover the cost of Christmas. "In a way, I'm not sure it's the most terrible thing," she replied.
"In a way, I think it's character building. And I also think children really do like to play a part and to help if you give them a chance - I don't think they really want to be put in a bubble and cocooned and told everything's lovely when it's not."
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She continued: "I think if they feel that they're doing something for the family effort, it's a great feeling for kids from about seven years old onwards, I would say." Vanessa's comments quickly sparked a backlash on social media, with viewers branding the presenter "tone deaf" for her remarks.
"Vanessa Feltz just described kids offering their own pocket money to help their parents struggling at Christmas as 'character building'. Absolutely baffling and an embarrassing statement from someone who has clearly never suffered from poverty," one person wrote on Twitter.
Another added: "Actually disgusted at Vanessa calling the cost of living crisis 'character building'. Choosing between eating or keeping warm is not character building!"
"Wow. Vanessa Feltz: Poverty is 'character building'. Only a clueless person who has never experienced it could say something quite so incredibly crass," said a third.
A fourth viewer tweeted: "Vanessa thinks it’s character building for kids to give their pocket money to pay for Christmas? There speaks a very rich woman who has never had to see her kids hungry, or cold or worried about their parents."
Elsewhere in the segment, Vanessa admitted that she was reluctant to discuss the cost of living crisis on air due to fear of causing "panic". She told Alison and Dermot: "I've been worried about covering it on television programmes and the radio, because I reckon if you can't think of a constructive thing to say, maybe shut up about it for a bit."
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