This Morning stung by thousand more complaints despite vowing to make change after Vanessa Feltz uproar
03.01.2024 - 14:48
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
This Morning has found itself being slapped with more official complaints after Vanessa Feltz's comments on the programme sparked uproar. The TV presenter was taking part in a phone-in on the ITV daytime show at the time of the episode in December.
Appearing alongside Craig Doyle and Josie Gibson on the famous sofa, Vanessa said a caller’s mother-in-law not allowing them to bring their own food to a gluten-free Christmas dinner was "completely unreasonable", during an episode of the programme on December 18.
The reason for the gluten-free food was because guests attending the lunch have Coeliac disease which causes the body to attack tissues when the person consumes gluten. Vanessa offered advice, encouraging the caller to accept the situation as to not cause any Christmas arguments but some of her other comments were slammed as being "ill-informed".
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The remarks initially received 1,092 complaints, according to an Ofcom report released on December 20, making it the ninth most-complained about programme in 2023.
The media watchdog has now said in its report on January 3 that a further 1,177 complaints have been made, bringing the total to 2,269. This has raised the programme to the fifth most-complained about last year, just behind a discussion on the junior doctors’ pay dispute on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show which came in fourth with 2,302 complaints.
Following the backlash, Vanessa 61, later apologised on her TalkTV show for the comments, saying “if anyone misunderstood or felt that I did, I am very sorry”. On her show, she showed