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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Mia O'Hare

Dermot O'Leary thanks fans for support as he leaves This Morning after tough two weeks

Dermot O'Leary has thanked his fans for their support after a challenging week on This Morning as he hosted alongside Alison Hammond.

The presenter, 50, has been filling in on the ITV show following Phillip Schofield's exit after 21 years and Holly Willoughby's planned break.

As his time came to an end on the programme, Dermot took to social media to share his thanks.

He posted a montage of snaps from the past two weeks including outfit pics and behind the scenes images.

Alongside the pictures, Dermot wrote: "Been a privilege to co-host TM with Alison for you all this week, and on behalf of an incredible crew and team, thanks for all the love!"

Alison and Dermot have been hosting This Morning together (Instagram)
Dermot has thanked his fans for 'all the love' (Instagram)

He was quickly flooded with supportive comments as one fan wrote: "What a week!! Legends."

"Can’t have been an easy week, well done!," added another.

Someone else wrote: "Hope the This Morning bosses are suitably grateful for the way you guys have helmed the good ship This Morning through choppy waters over the last few weeks. Perfect job. Well done."

"Couldn't have been an easy week but you two have been fabulous. Hope you get a chance to chill this weekend," said a fourth.

On Friday's episode of This Morning Alison broke down in tears as the show finally addressed Phillip Schofield 's exit and affair with a much younger colleague.

Opening the ITV show today, Dermot announced that Phillip's interviews were the "big story of the day" and that they "didn't want to shy away from it".

They aired a clip of Phillip interviewed by the BBC's Amol Rajan, in which the former host said he felt a "strange numbness" over the last few weeks.

"It's been very difficult for us to cover this story," Dermot admitted. "He's a friend and a colleague."

They were joined by guests Gyles Brandreth and Sonia Sodha, and the four of them gave their thoughts on the situation.

"Like he said, there have been many things that have been said and there's going to be an external review that will go into that," Gyles began.

Alison and Dermot have been filling in for Holly and Phil (Instagram)
The presenter will host This Morning on Fridays (Instagram)

"But watching this clip, I was reminded of a great saying by a writer, Henry James, who said, 'In life there are three rules - the first rule is be kind, the second rule is be kind, the third rule is be kind.'"

Dermot interjected, saying that he thought interviewer Amol did an "incredible job".

"Because it wasn't without empathy but at the same time very much held Phil to account," Dermot said.

Another clip was shared of Phillip saying that his TV career was over.

Alison became visibly emotional as she began to cry and said: "I'm finding it really painful, I loved Phillip Schofield, it's weird because I still love Phillip Schofield, however, what he's done is wrong. He's admitted it, he's said sorry, as a family, we're all really struggling to process everything I never know what to say.

"I remember what my mum said, my mum always said 'use your Bible as your satnav in life Al, in the Bible it says 'he without sin, casts the first stone,' I don't want to say anything bad because I'm in conflict."

Earlier this week, Alison and Dermot also addressed claims that This Morning was a "toxic environment", as they revealed they "love" working on the programme.

Opening the programme on Monday, Dermot said: "We know we have been in the news at the moment. But just from both of us, and the whole team here, the crew, the guys downstairs, we love making this show for all of you."

Alison added: "We really do and that's exactly what we're gonna do - we're continuing to do that."

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