Good Morning Britain faced criticism on Tuesday’s show over a deepfake scam interview segment.
Hosts and Ed Balls welcomed guest Nikki MacLeod, 77, live from Edinburgh after she was scammed out of £17,000 by someone pretending to be a woman named ‘Alla Morgan’, who claimed to be working on an oil rig in the North Sea.
She met the scammer in an online chat group. ‘Alla Morgan’ sent Nikki personal messages using convincing AI-generated videos and Nikki appeared on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain to raise awareness of sophisticated scammers.
Despite the important topic, viewers were baffled as Ed persistently tried to interject while Nikki spoke over him, causing them to talk simultaneously. As the duo talked on top of each other, it led viewers to claim the interview was ‘excruciating’ to watch and the show eventually cut the interview short.
Good Morning Britain faced backlash on Tuesday’s episode during a deepfake scam interview (Image: ITV)
Taking to Twitter, now X, one person said: “That was excruciating #GMB”, a different account put: “Ed can’t get a word in edgeways”, another put: “Think Ed wants to end the interview #gmb” while another added: “She’s totally ignoring Ed!”
Yet following the chat, Susanna, 54, explained that there had been a technical blunder as Nikki’s earpiece had fallen out, meaning she couldn’t hear Ed and hadn’t realised she was talking over him, reports .
Susanna said: “We apologise to Nikki because unfortunately she lost her earpiece which meant she couldn’t hear what you were saying, Ed, that’s why we had to just interrupt her.”
It comes as Good Morning Britain got awkward on Monday when guest and comedian Jenny Eclair called out host Ed for his ‘baffled’ expression.
During the latest episode, hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls spoke to guest Nikki MacLeod (Image: ITV)
In the segment, Ed and co-host Susanna interviewed Jenny about her ongoing comedy tour. The chat took an unexpected turn when Jenny noticed Ed seemed perplexed by one of her jokes, commenting: “Ed’s looking a bit blank, I don’t think he got that joke!” She then repeated the joke for clarification.
Still not catching on, Susanna humorously interjected: “Let’s hope you don’t have to explain the other jokes!” whereas Ed lightly responded: “I can’t wait to come [to the tour].”
To which Jenny said: “No, please don’t, and if you do, please sit at the back so I can’t see your baffled little face.
“I don’t mind, sometimes you get some people who have great faces for watching comedy and then there’s people like Ed, who just go: ‘Oh, what? What, I don’t get?'” as Jenny repeated the joke again.
However, this prompted Ed to admit: “To be honest, I’ve no idea what’s going on. Where am I?”
Following the interview, Jenny took to Twitter, now X, to write: “Job jobbed! I told a joke that Ed didn’t understand! Not my finest TV moment- ha!”
Good Morning Britain continues on weekdays at 6am on both ITV and ITV X.