Piers Morgan is to join the Good Morning Britain presenting team alongside co-host Susanna Reid.
The former tabloid editor and TV presenter will join Susanna three days a week from November on the ITV breakfast show.
He said: “I am very excited at the prospect of waking up at 3am every morning, and even more excited by the thought of how annoying Susanna is going to find me after a few months. Good Morning Britain is a great show with a terrific team on and off screen. I’m looking forward to it enormously.”
.@piersmorgan officially joins GMB! Piers will co-host with @susannareid100 3 days a week: http://t.co/a7J1z7SGJV pic.twitter.com/27XnglIAcK
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 13, 2015
The 50-year-old currently presents Piers Morgan’s Life Stories on ITV. Between 2011 and 2014 he presented Piers Morgan Live on CNN in America.
Piers will step into the shoes of Ben Shephard, who has co-hosted the show on weekday mornings with Susanna since April 2014.
This will not be Piers’ first time on Good Morning Britain: in April 2015 he filled in for a week as a guest presenter when Ben was on holiday. He co-hosted with Susanna Monday to Thursday and with Kate Garraway on the Friday.
The Good Morning Britain team (Ian West/PA)
After his guest appearance, Piers was criticised by Ofcom for laughing as an interviewee repeatedly used the F-word live on air.
Ofcom decided not to take action against the programme as the hosts had quickly apologised, but said it was 'concerned' that he had laughed during an expletive-filled video-link interview with daredevil climber Alain Robert.
Susanna immediately said: “Slightly more frank language at this time in the morning than we’re normally used to on Good Morning Britain so apologies for that,” while Piers added: “We are going to try and recover from your choice use of language, which is a little alarming for us at this time in the morning.”
Ofcom received complaints about the incident, and said: “In this case, the word ‘f***ing’ was broadcast twice before the watershed. There was therefore a clear breach.”
Piers Morgan (Rob Latour/Invision)
He was also due to appear in July, but was dropped from the scheduled appearance because he was in an advert for the National Lottery. As GMB is classified as a news and current affairs programme, presenters are prohibited from appearing in paid ad campaigns.
Piers began his career in journalism as a writer and editor for tabloids including The Sun, News of the World and the Daily Mirror. In 1994, aged 29, he was appointed editor of the News of the World by Rupert Murdoch. He then edited the Daily Mirror from 1995 until 2004.
He has also been a judge on America’s Got Talent and appeared in the US celebrity version of The Apprentice in 2008. The outspoken presenter attracted controversy in the United States after calling for stricter gun laws.
Following today’s announcement he tweeted:
BREAKING NEWS: It's official – I am joining @GMB as co-host with @susannareid100 from November. Brace yourselves Britain.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 13, 2015
Haven't witnessed national jubilation like this since the Royal Wedding. Thanks everyone. @GMB
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 13, 2015
