Cliff Notes – Kate Garraway awkwardly jokes about ‘being fired’ from Good Morning Britain after ITV cuts
- Kate Garraway made light of potential job cuts at ITV during an interview with Louie Spence, who commented on the network’s upcoming changes.
- Spence’s remarks about ITV’s cuts included joking about the reduction of shows like Lorraine and Loose Women, prompting Garraway to clarify her impartiality as a news presenter.
- ITV’s Managing Director, Kevin Lygo, stated that the changes aim to enhance news operations while generating savings for reinvestment in other programming.
Kate Garraway awkwardly jokes about ‘being fired’ from Good Morning Britain after ITV cuts
Kate Garraway awkwardly joked about being ‘fired’ from Good Morning Britain on Monday, as a guest made jibes about the cuts at ITV.
The 58-year-old TV presenter was helming the flagship news programme alongside Ed Balls to kick off the week, with Louie Spence in the studio off the back of his dismal turn in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
The 56-year-old choreographer discussed his decision to quit the gruelling reality show in the first episode of filming, revealing he had never actually watched the programme before appearing on it.
At the end of the interview, Spence complimented Garraway on her voluminous blonde hair and asked why she had never done an advert for hair products, adding: ‘Every morning I watch you and think ‘she’s worth it’,’ he said while mimicking a hair flip with his bald head.
Garraway then explained that she is not ‘allowed’ to endorse products with brand deals, given that it’s a conflict of interest with their impartiality as news journalists.
Spence then became faux outraged and referred to the huge upcoming shake-up of ITV’s daytime TV slate as it looks to make money-saving cuts.
Louie Spence was in the studio to discuss SAS.
Garraway laughed in the studio at the ITV gags
Spence joked: ‘How dare they? What’s going on? They’re cutting Lorraine, the Loose Women are being cut, what’s going on? This place is going to wrack and ruin.’
Garraway awkwardly laughed in the studio, but intervened to explain: ‘I work in news and we are religiously, despite what people think, impartial, so you don’t endorse anything.’
She then joked: ‘When they fire me Louie, which is probably right now for talking too much, I’ll go and do one.’
Spence replied: ‘I’ll say strap in darling, because everyone’s being cut.’
What has ITV said about the cuts?
Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, explained the changes in a statement.
‘Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.
‘These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.’
Garraway explained she’s not allowed to endorse products.
Good Morning Britain is part of the upcoming ITV shake-up
ITV earlier this year announced that Lorraine will no longer be one hour long as they cut the show’s run-time in half. The announcement from ITV stated that the show will also run on a ‘seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year’ rather than throughout the year.
Like Lorraine, Loose Women has also been cut down to a 30-week schedule, taking up the ‘seasonal’ schedule it operated on until 2016.
Loose Women has retained its normal slot in the daily diary, continuing to take place on weekdays from 12:30pm to 1pm.
It was announced that these major changes will be enforced in January 2026.
It was added that Good Morning Britain (GMB) will now run from 6am to 9:30am, filling the half-hour slot originally held by Lorraine.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
