Craig Doyle had a flirty moment with Janet Street Porter on Wednesday’s This Morning, as he revealed he once had a crush on the Loose Women panellist.
The presenter, who is guest hosting the ITV daytime show following the departure of Phillip Schofield, was left red-faced after making the admission live on air.
It happened after Craig and co-host Holly Willoughby threw over to the Loose Women studio for a live promo, which revealed the show would be celebrating Janet’s 50th anniversary in broadcasting.
After the pair congratulated Janet, Craig then said: “Do you know what? When Janet started in broadcasting, she was just so different to everybody and so outspoken. Just the most incredible watching as a young person who wanted to get into it. I said, ‘that’s who want to be’. She says what she thinks. And you still do.”
Janet replied: “Well, do you know what I thought you were going to say then? ‘When Janet started, I was still in nappies!’ So thanks for saying that.”
“I was well out of nappies, Janet. I actually quite fancied you back then!” Craig said.
As a shocked Janet burst into laugher, she said: “I can’t believe it!”
Holly and Craig then went on to set up another segment on the show, before he paused and realised: “Did I just tell everybody? I did, didn’t I? Oh, filter.”
The Irish presenter has emerged as one of the favourites to permanently replace Phillip as Holly’s permanent co-host on the ITV show in recent weeks – something viewers have called for too.
In an interview with The Times, Craig revealed his love of presenting the show, admitting he feels “grateful” for chance to front it.
“I love doing the This Morning show,” he said. “It’s great fun and I feel so grateful at this stage in my career to get an opportunity to do a show this size.”
“Given that I’m on my second or third lap of this industry, to get an opportunity like this is fantastic.”
He continued: “It’s a very important television programme as it’s the backdrop for a lot of people’s morning.”
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.