ITV Lorraine viewers have hailed the new host, begging for her to receive her own programme. Lorraine Kelly revealed earlier this week that she was travelling to the USA for Scotland’s upcoming World Cup match against Morocco on Friday night. In her place, the likes of Josie Gibson and Ruth Langsford will be taking over as presenters.
Lorraine confirmed her break from her show on Wednesday’s programme, saying: “I’m heading off.” "That's all for today. Josie Gibson is hosting tomorrow, see you then!" she announced, as the programme drew to a close. Minutes into Thursday’s Lorraine, viewers delivered their verdict on This Morning star Josie making her debut as host.
Viewers called the former Big Brother star a “breath of fresh air”, calling for her to be a permanent host. “Rather Josie than #Lorraine tbh,” one person wrote, while another said: “Wonderful to see Josie hosting the show today. She should host more often. I think she needs her own show.” Someone else wrote: “Josey you are a breath of fresh air.....and talking about Englands fantastic win last night....whats not to love.” Yet another added: “Looking forward to the day when 'Lorraine' becomes 'Josie' - breath of fresh air!”
Previously, Christine Lampard and Ranvir Singh would step in to host for Lorraine when she took seasonal time off. However, ITV has undergone a series of shake-ups in recent months, with Lorraine’s previous one-hour slot now being cut to just half an hour, and only running for 30 weeks of the year. Lorraine previously addressed the changes, vowing: “We’re still here.”
“My show's been on it half past eight, quarter to nine, and nine o'clock, 10 past nine,” she told The Evening Standard. “So hopefully the audience will still stay with us, because that's the most important thing to me, is you know, that the audience are still enjoying what I do and the fact that people are so kind and they still watch after all these years and when I go out and about, people greet me like their friend, which is really, really lovely.
“And I don't think that happens to all that many people. You know that you've got that connection, primarily because I've been doing it for so long, but it's something that I never, ever take for granted and I never take any, any of this for granted. I really don't, because it's, it's an honour.” She added: “The show continues, and obviously it’s only going to be the half hour… but you know what, we’re still here. We’re still here.”
Lorraine airs weekdays from 9.30am on ITV1 and ITVX.
