The morning chef basked in the limelight as he became the leading man when Ruth and Eamonn didn't make it back to the set on time
THIS MORNING's Phil Vickery was suddenly thrust into the spotlight on Friday morning when a mishap meant Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford weren't on set.
The 55-year-old chef has been featuring on the show for the past ten years, but finally got his chance to shine as the leading man.
As the show came back from an ad break, Phil revealed: "There's no one here- I'm on my own!
The star clearly made the most of the situation and joked as he introduced his own segment by reading Eamonn's autocue.
He declared: "So welcome back - is Eamonn's words. There's some wonderful smells coming from our kitchen as Phil," he said, pointing to himself, " Is cooking a chicken tikka masala in a moment - he'll be over there."
"But first of all, your chance to enter our £80,000 pay day competition, as Eamonn would say!"
After introducing the most recent winners, the show cut to a video tape as Phil ended his moment in the spotlight as he added: "I need to get on with the cooking."
Ruth and Eamonn were not back in time to present the beginning of the next half of the show after going over to Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway studio to interview the boys ahead of tomorrow's show return.
Actress Michelle Keegan has been unveiled as the first guest announcer to join the Geordie duo on the first night of the new series, introducing the pair and what is coming up throughout the show to the viewers.
Michelle isn’t the only star playing a part in the show opener, as The Voice UK coach and singing powerhouse Jennifer Hudson will be part of the duo’s End of the Show Show.
Scarlett Moffatt will also make her first appearance as Ant and Dec’s sidekick, after replacing Ashley Roberts in the assistant role for the new series.
They used to present the popular kids TV show along with Cat Deeley from 1998 until they left in 2001, with the ITV show eventually ending in 2003.
Ant and Dec are working with presenter Stephen Mulhern – who hosted SM:TV Live in 2003 – on their Saturday Night Takeaway show and the duo admitted that they had been approached to do a anniversary special.
Speaking to the Metro, Ant said: “We were talking to somebody about this recently because it’s twenty years since the launch of SM:tv next year.
“So, we were saying whether we could do an anniversary special or something, and we got carried away with the idea.
He continued: “If we did it a one off, it would be on at 9.25am, with C.H.U.M.S and all that, and get Cat back!”
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