Never mind the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ judges, Charlotte Hawkins has faced a much tougher critic over her poor performance on Saturday (30 September) night’s show - her ‘Good Morning Britain’ co-host Piers Morgan.
The presenter was torn to shreds by Piers as she made her first appearance on the ITV breakfast show since finishing bottom of the ‘Strictly’ leaderboard thanks to a disastrous Cha Cha.
Charlotte scored just 12 points from the judges for her routine with partner Brendan Cole over the weekend, with Piers branding her performance “horrifying”, and questioning whether she was drunk.
Speaking on Monday’s ‘GMB’, he said: “I didn’t even think anyone could get a two on the show?
“Well, apparently I have achieved that,” Charlotte replied. “What a night. It was horrific.”
As a clip of her performance played, Piers commented: “That is literally like me at a party, 2am, drunk, falling over.”
After Charlotte admitted it was “not her finest hour”, Piers questioned if she had been “putting enough hours in in practice”.
“I was doing eight hours a day training after ‘Good Morning Britain’ last week,” she insisted.
Susanna Reid, who competed on the show in 2013, jumped to her defence, saying: “Can I just say, Cha Cha is the hardest. You’ve got in out the way in week two, you can sail through now.”
Piers added: “It’s quite brand-damaging for all of us when these things happen.”
But his critique of Charlotte’s performance did not end there, as they revisited the topic later in the show when they were joined by showbiz correspondent Richard Arnold.
“Had you been drinking? A little too much Dutch courage?” Piers asked.
He continued: “I was horrified. I actually thought you were going to be really good at this. I don’t know what’s going on. At the moment, you’re just bouncing across the floor!”
Charlotte bit back: “Saturday night is nothing compared to sitting here next to you.”
But Piers didn’t let up, going on to add: “Can I just remind you, you are representing this programme. Me, Susanna, the crew - we are all living this dream with you and it’s becoming a nightmare!
“At some point, you are going to have to throw Brendan Cole under the bus because someone has to take the blame for this.”
Piers also had a theory why Charlotte had managed to stay in over Chizzy Akudolu, who was voted off after competing against Brian Conley in the dance off.
“The trouble is, people don’t know who Chizzy is. That’s why [others] managed to stay in,” he said.
Commenting on her performance, he added: “Brilliant isn’t the word I would use. This is why I should be a judge one of these things. I actually say what people are thinking.
“But the reason I can’t be a judge on a talent show like this is because they like the judges to go, ‘Oh, wasn’t that fantastic’, when no, it was terrible.”
But will Charlotte fare better next week? Find out when ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ airs on Saturday at 6.35pm on BBC One.
‘Good Morning Britain’ airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.