Alison Hammond has cheekily responded to claims her relationship with Dermot O'Leary is 'strained' as they kicked off their summer stint on This Morning. It was confirmed over the weekend that the show's usual Friday hosts will be presenting all week this week as Holly Willoughby headed off on her annual break.
But their on-screen reunion comes amid claims of a 'strained' relationship between the pair behind the scenes which comes weeks after the hosts were thrust in front of the camera after the Phillip Schofield scandal broke back in May.
The ITV daytime programme's former star quit the show after more than 20 years on the famous sofa, claiming the show had 'become the story' due to reports he and Holly were 'barely speaking' behind the scenes. But less than a week later and Phillip, 61, confirmed he'd quit ITV altogether while admitting to an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger ITV colleague.
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The show has since continued as normal with Holly, 42, hosting alongside Dermot as well as Craig Doyle. But she has since quietly started her eight-week summer break and won't be back on screens until September.
So on Monday (July 10), Alison, 48, and Dermot, 50, returned to screens in their usual friendly fashion despite there being rumours about their friendship. And Alison appeared to try and put those reports to bed with a one-line comment.
Dermot took to Instagram with a photo of the pair posing in the This Morning studio on the famous sofa. "Summer’s here!" he started the caption of his post to his 795K followers.
He then added: "Looking forward to this week with my @alisonhammond55 - we’re on from 10am!" And Alison was quick to take to the comments section where she wrote: "Cut the tension with a knife," alongside a crying laughing emoji.
And her comment was quickly flooded with crying laughing emojis from fans when Alison's makeup artist Mikey Phillips joked: "It’s SEXUAL."
Meanwhile, Alison also tried to show there was no animosity behind the scenes with her co-host as she shared a video of them dancing. The pair could be seen in the show's ITV studio as they joined in the Mariah Carey 'Touch My Body' dance challenge.
"Me and my @dermotoleary with you all week bringing the summer vibes on @thismorning - come and join us," the mum-of-one typed alongside the video posted to her 1.3 million followers.
And fans were loving seeing the pair have fun and were quick to respond to their partnership. @hannah_pearson0604 said: "Such a brilliant team! More of you two genuinely nice people needed in the week starting in Sept!!! Take note producers… we want Alison and Dermot FULL TIME!!!"
@sandwsandra replied: "Love these guys together should be the main this morning presenters." @rachelmcooper69 commented: "This is exactly what itv needs. This pair. So gorgeous together." @klayermacn wrote: "You guys are such a fab team!! And I love Josie/Craig as the other team!"
@_hanifihebouche shared: "This exactly itv should be about making the viewers smile an laughs and have tonnes of chemistry as as duo! Lately if holly is on the couch I tend to turnover. Best duo ever." @lauracooney76 added: "Absolutely love you two ! You are just two people that shine doesn’t matter how down we can be turn on the tv and you two make us smile . Thank you both for the blessing you are."
