Good Morning Britain viewers were left unimpressed and accused the show of 'wasting time' as they interviewed a British teen who headed to join the Ukraine army despite having no military experience. Martin Lewis and Susanna Reid were hosting Monday's edition of the ITV news programme when they were joined by the boy - known as Alex - and his mum for an anonymous interview.
The 19-year-old, who described his trip as a 'suicide mission', spoke about how he fled his home before returning after just six days in the war-torn Eastern European country once he realised what he had signed up for.
"You'd gone out there in order to help?" Susanna, 52, began the questioning after a voiceover told 'Alex's' story through a series of clips. "Did you go out there in order to fight?"
"It wasn't really about fighting," the teen admitted. "it was more about putting a smile on someone's face when they're walking past that borderline or putting a smile on someone's face who is walking miles and miles."
"You could have gone to Poland and helped, couldn't you? The refugee effort, but you went into Ukraine," the host then pointed out as Alex explained he had to sign a contract when he arrived in Ukraine to join the army.
Martin then joined in the conversation and said: "Looking at you now, and you'll excuse me for saying this, you look 19. You look like you're just out of school, you're a young man, you've got no military experience whatsoever.
"What did you think you were doing in reality? Have you ever been interested in joining the Armed Forces? Was this totally out of the blue or was this a lifelong passion and you thought you'd do it this way."
"I had been thinking about joining the army from a young age," Alex replied. "But it was more I was watching children walking with no family members and it just hit me that I needed to stand up and do something."
Martin then responded: "But the guidance said if you didn't have the military experience you shouldn't be applying, didn't it?" to which Alex said 'yes' before Martin added: "But you still went ahead and took that risk?"
"Yes, it still didn't stop me," Alex said. "It didn't shake me at all that I didn't have military experience. In my head, I knew what I was doing."
Alex's mum, 'Lisa', also revealed she thought her son was joking when he told her he was travelling to Ukraine before he told her again at 11pm the night before he left home.
The teen also claimed that he received no training once he arrived in Ukraine nor did he receive any weaponry or armour before being deployed to the front line.
But GMB viewers were unimpressed by the interview.
@SultanaBhatti1 tweeted: "Why you wasting time on Alex? This is so naff. Susanna ‘concerned face’ nodding on cue #gmb."
"#gmb scraping the barrel again," @feefranklin said.
@arpz commented: "Why on earth is this muppet on here? Silly boy, what did he expect? You were warned. #GMB."
"This 'Alex' interview is utterly bewildering #GMB," @andyedmeads added.
