This Morning fans call for two presenters to replace Holly and Phil this week after ‘queue jumping’ backlash
THIS Morning fans have called on two presenters to replace Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on the ITV show this week after they came under fire for using media passes to access Westminster Hall on Friday.
The duo have faced heavy criticism from some on social media after they paid tribute to the Queen lying in state without having taken part in the public queue.
More than one million people - including David Beckham and Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid - waited up to 22 hours to pay their respects to the late monarch.
But programme bosses said in a statement on Instagram that their hosting duo Phil, 60, and Holly, 42, had attended to film a segment due to air during Tuesday's show.
Amid the backlash, This Morning viewers have called on the programme to mine their pool of part time presenters to host the show instead this week.
Alison Hammond and Ruth Langsford are favourites with viewers who have also named Rylan Clark, Dermot O'Leary and Craig Doyle to step in.
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One said: "Will @ITV do the right thing and pull Holly and Phil from #ThisMorning? No reason why other presenters like Rylan or Alison couldn't fill in. Nobody wants to see these #queuejumpers right now"
A second echoed: "Who does @thismorning think they are fooling?. They JUMPED the que for no reason but their own sense of entitlement. Bring back Rylan and Ruth for the love OF GOD."
Another said: "Who else can't bear Willoughby and Schofield sickly presence on #ThisMorning? I can't watch it unless it's Alison and Dermot, or Craig."
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A fourth said: "ThisMorning can't see how phil and holly are going to get out of queue gate, maybe just call in sick and get ruth and rylan to cover, it's really what we all want anyway"
Today Susanna Reid made a subtle dig at Phillip and Holly after she queued with her elderly mother for seven hours.
The Good Morning Britain presenter, 51, said she was "proud" of her 81-year-old mum who stood with her for hours on end to see the Queen's coffin.
There is now a petition launched to have Holly and Phil axed from presenting the the daytime show.
Recalling her own experience of queuing, Susanna said today: "It is an enormous privilege to have been able to do that, to spend time paying our last respects, but also those hours in the queue as well, coming to an end now."
Her co-host Ben Shephard replied: "It’s huge commitment, when we were talking and you were in the queue for seven hours and 20minutes in total with your mum and a friend.
"When you do anything like that, and endeavour, because it really is an endeavour to stay that long for this moment, you can understand why, for some, they are overwhelmed with emotion."
Susanna agreed: "Whether you are religious or not, a royalist or not, it feels like a sort of pilgrimage, and a historic moment, a historic opportunity.
"When I was in the queue, young children, patiently and uncomplainingly stood for hours. I was so proud of my mum at 81 queuing with me."
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The channel insists they "did not file past the Queen's coffin" but were being escorted to work from the press gallery by government staff.
"Any allegations of improper behaviour are categorically untrue," an ITV spokesman said, as they explained the presenters were working as journalists at the historic event.