Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard were once the cherished presenting pair on Good Morning Britain, but their time together came to a close earlier this year.
Ben stepped down after 10 years with ITV to join Cat Deeley as a presenter on This Morning, following Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby’s exit.
Kate appears to still feel the absence of her former co-host. In Friday’s show, which she presented alongside Adil Ray, she playfully jabbed at Ben during a discussion about a ‘cat crisis’ caused by increasing pet abandonments due to rising costs.
After watching footage of kittens at an RSPCA centre, Kate remarked that “they’re making me sort of broody”.
Adil suggested she adopt some, proposing: “I think you should name them after your fellow GMB presenters.”
“I’m going with Sean, that’s it, sorted,” Kate quipped, nodding towards Sean Fletcher who was delivering the news. Adil went on: “You could have a little Susanna, a Ben, a Richard, an Ed…” reports the Mirror.
“Not Ben,” Kate quickly retorted, gesturing dismissively. “He’s out now, he’s out! ” To which Adil responded: “Get a tortoise, call him Ben and leave him outside.”
Emotions ran high for Ben during his final day on the GMB set in February, when Kate and other colleagues surprised him, leaving him tearful.
Kate delivered a heartfelt on-air message to Ben, managing to hold back her emotions as she said: “I won’t say too much because you will make me cry. You’re an incredible person, an incredible friend, you’re an incredible broadcaster and anyone who works with you loves you. I’m going to miss you, I won’t say anymore, but we know that you’re going to be fantastic and we all know we are all still going to be in your lives as friends.”
Fighting back tears, Kate watched as Ben wrapped up the show with his final words. Before the credits rolled, he shared: “The alarm going off has never been anything I’ve enjoyed but what I have known is as soon as I get in here I’m going to be surrounded by brilliant, gorgeous, talented, challenging, chaotic, annoying, fabulous people that make me better at what I do.”
He continued, acknowledging his colleagues and viewers: “It’s not lost on me that I wouldn’t be able to do it if you lot weren’t amazing and hadn’t been such fabulous friends and brilliant colleagues. There’s an extended family here at GMB, it’s not just us, we just get to do the glorious bit, but the team behind the cameras thank you to all of them, and thank you to the viewers as well for trusting me to wake you up in the morning with this amazing team.”
Ben concluded, expressing his feelings about leaving: “I can only cope with this, and I know I’m going over a bit because I’m not going far and these guys are going to do an incredible job, and I’m going to get a lie in.”
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