Andi Peters will replace Lorraine Kelly on her ITV breakfast show, as she takes a break over the summer.
The 49-year-old TV presenter – who currently hosts the competition slots on the programme and sister show ‘Good Morning Britain’ – will become the first man to host ‘Lorraine’ in nearly a decade during part of her six-week break from hosting duties.
He will split his time on the show with Christine Lampard, who usually covers for the 60-year-old host.
Andi will be in the hot seat for the first time for two weeks from August 10th, and Christine will host ‘Lorraine’ from Monday (20.07.20) to August 7th, and then again from August 24th until Lorraine’s return on September 1st.
Discussing the promotion on ‘GMB’ on Friday (17.07.20), presenter Charlotte Hawkins said to Andi: "It seems that you’re taking on another job … as if doing all of our competitions aren’t enough for you, you’re going to be taking over Lorraine’s seat for a while, aren’t you?"
He replied: "Yes that is correct, in the summer holidays while Lorraine goes to have a well-deserved rest … God bless her, she’s been on for months and months…
"I’ll be filling in for Lorraine for two weeks alongside Christine … so it’s very exciting."
Andi has been on the show for six years, and feels it’s an "honour" to fill in for Lorraine during her well-deserved time off.
He said: "I love Lorraine, I’ve known her for ten years, I’m on her show every day and it’s great to be part of that family. So, sitting in for her is an honour, Lorraine is an institution.
"As much as I adore always giving away money on the competition slots, I’m looking forward to chatting to people and having a whole hour to actually relax into it. I’m a bit of a chatterbox.
"I’ll enjoy having guests on, who want to have a bit of a chinwag and also to be able to do some serious stuff. I am happy and jolly, and that will always be there, but obviously I do have an opinion. The good thing about ITV Daytime is that we are allowed to have opinions.
"We are not censored in that way, we are allowed to bring them to the table. I can’t wait to see how guests react to that. I’m genuinely really excited."
What’s more, it seems Lorraine has been pushing ITV bosses to give Andi the promotion for some time.
She added: "Actually, I’ve been trying to get Andi to present my show for ages but he’s always been away filming in exotic locations. I’m glad we’ve managed to pin him down."
Andi will become the first guy to host the ‘Lorraine’ show in just under a decade after Michael Ball stepped in to guest present the show for six episodes from 2010 to 2011, and the programme’s US-based entertainment reporter Ross King took the reins for one episode in 2011.
Christine added: "I’m really looking forward to being back at ‘Lorraine’. The team is always so lovely and welcoming and now more than ever, it’ll be great to catch up with people and find out how they are getting on."