Good Morning Britain was forced off air on Monday morning after a fire alarm triggered an evacuation of the studio. Presenters Ed Balls and Susanna Reid were hosting the extended programme, which was scheduled to run from 6am to 10am for the first time, when an alarm sounded.
As the show went to a commercial break, Susanna Reid remarked, “While our ears are ringing, we’ll go to a break.” However, after the break, coverage unexpectedly cut to This Morning presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, who appeared unaware they were on air. Ben later explained, “The GMB studio has been evacuated… They’re all absolutely fine, but they had to leave the studio.”
ITV confirmed the incident in a statement: “Due to an unscheduled fire alarm at the Good Morning Britain studio this morning, our team had to leave the set temporarily. While they were able to re-enter the building shortly afterwards, the programme had to end earlier than planned. We apologise to viewers for the disruption, with thanks to the This Morning team for appearing on air 20 minutes ahead of schedule.”
The disruption occurred on the first day of an extended schedule for GMB, which now runs until 10am to accommodate ITV’s coverage of the Cheltenham Festival. Lorraine and Loose Women have been temporarily pulled from the schedule as part of cost-cutting measures that reduce their annual airtime to 30 weeks.
