Alison Hammond announces she’s ‘taking a bit of a break’ from TV show This Morning as Josie Gibson replaces her

TV favourite Alison Hammond has announced her “break” from This Morning – and a familiar face has stepped in to replace her.

The presenter, 50, has been a part of the ITV show since 2002. In 2021, she was made a full-presenter with Dermot O’Leary, 51, and has been hosting the Friday’s show ever since.

However, Alison has now confirmed she is “taking a bit of a break” from the long-running series.

Alison Hammond absent from morning TV show today

Since shooting to fame in 2002 thanks to her appearance on Big Brother, Alison has become one of TV’s go-to presenters.

From stints on This Morning to The Great British Bake Off, Alison has kept booked and busy.

I’m having a bit of a break because I’m doing some other projects.

But fans hoping to see more of her on This Morning over the next few weeks will be disappointed…

“Well, I’m actually having a bit of time out,” Alison revealed during an appearance on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK.

Alison Hammond ‘doing other things’

Alison explained: “I’m having a bit of a break. I’m having a bit of a break because I’m doing some other projects.”

Alison went on to share what’s in the pipeline and said: “I’m doing Comic Relief on Friday, so I’m really excited about that – doing it with Davina [McCall].

“Yeah, so, we’re going to raise some money. Yeah, I’m just doing a couple of other things so I’m having like a month off. Is that alright?”

Who replaced Alison on This Morning?

Due to Alison’s break from This Morning, during Friday’s episode (March 21) she was replaced by fellow TV star Josie Gibson, 40. The Bristol favourite fronted the show alongside Dermot.

Meanwhile, Alison’s decision to take a step back from This Morning comes after she faced backlash from viewers over an interview with Robert De Niro.

Alison faces backlash

Alison chatted to the Hollywood legend earlier this month, along with Debra Messing for their latest film, The Alto Knights. Attempting to “lighten the mood” Alison played a quirky game with the stars.

She read out nicknames, and Robert and Debra had to decide if the names were real-life gangsters or her old school pals. Debra won the game and was awarded with some fake flowers as a prize.

However, viewers claimed Robert wasn’t too impressed, with one person on X writing: “He’s definitely thinking how the [bleep] did I get here.” A second penned: “Robert De Niro was straight on the phone to his agent after that.”

Watch Alison on Comic Relief tonight (March 21) on BBC One from 7pm.

Read more: Alison Hammond turned down BBC show after candid weight confession: ‘I don’t want to do it’