This Morning fans were left floored on Thursday as Dermot O'Leary interviewed a Gloucester couple who won a record-breaking £184m lottery haul.
Joe and Jess Thwaite, a communications engineer and manager of a hairdressing salon, were revealed as the winners during Thursday’s show.
The couple revealed their identity at a press conference with Dermot near Cheltenham, after scooping £184,262,899 last week on the Euromillions, the biggest lottery win in the UK.
The couple have been married for 11 years, have two primary school age children, while Joe has two children at university from a previous marriage.
The record was previously held by an anonymous ticket holder who banked £170m in October 2019.
Speaking at the press conference with Dermot, 49-year-old Joe described the moment he opened the app and found out the news.
He said: “I took it as the usual lucky dip, then I opened up the app, put the phone down and picked the phone up again.
“I first thought it was in thousands and I was over the moon. I thought we could do the mortgage and everything else and it was going to change our lives.
“Then I actually started counting the digits and at that point it was amazing.”
Back in the studio, This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby congratulated the couple on their fantastic win.
Phillip noted: “They’re very brave to go public with that, but absolutely incredible. Enjoy it. Let's hope it brings you and everyone you know tenfold a massive amount of joy.”
This Morning viewers at home were equally shocked the pair had decided to go public with the win, with one taking to Twitter to write: “Not sure if going public on national TV about winning £184 million in a cost of living crisis is the best idea. Very brave…”
“Why would you go public if you’ve won £180m!? Surely that’s just setting yourself up for pain and hassle you don’t need? Madness,” another tweeted.
A third wrote: “I'd NEVER go public after a lottery win. Mainly because I'd be dead of shock. Also because I'd never be happy, knowing my win came from millions of other people's hope for a miracle to dig themselves out of life's hole.”
A fellow viewer tweeted: “Not a chance I’d be telling anyone about a lottery win!!” as another agreed: “I’d just disappear if I won that much money.”
Another viewer suggested: “Probably went public because some loud mouth family member or friend would of said something.”
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV and ITV Hub.
