Dermot O’Leary has admitted he and This Morning colleague Alison Hammond hashed things out after ‘annoying one another’.
The presenting pair opened up about aspects about each other they found challenging off-camera after two months of working together.
Dermot told The Sun that he and Alison cleared the air with the meeting – and she’s now “like a sister”.
Dermot, 48, and Alison, 46, were brought together for the ITV daytime flagship show in January.
And he acknowledges that their first few months as a team weren’t easy as they didn’t have time to get to know one another.
Read more: This Morning: Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary return as viewers divided
Dermot indicates there wasn’t a pilot or even opportunity for them to read through scripts together before their first show.
He said: “The idea that there wouldn’t be a period of getting to know each other is insane. If we’d just gone on air and pretended that we knew each other really well and were bosom buddies, people wouldn’t have bought that.”
Dermot O’Leary speaks Alison Hammond ‘clash’
But following an unspecified awkward moment while on the air, it seems Dermot and Alison got together to work matters out.
Dermot believes that was a turning point for their working relationship as they faced up to issues concerning them.
If you’re doing live telly with someone you don’t trust, it doesn’t work.
He reflected: “We both did something that the other didn’t like – nothing major. But after it happened we looked at each other, and I said: ‘You didn’t like it when I did that, did you?’ And she said no, she didn’t. And I said: ‘OK, well I didn’t like it when you did that thing.’
“We both laughed, because now we knew. The most important thing is to find out what annoys the other and make sure you don’t do it again. If you’re doing live telly with someone you don’t trust, it doesn’t work.”
On Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford
Dermot also addressed how it is ‘part of the job’ after facing some backlash from viewers as he and Alison replaced regular This Morning Friday presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford.
Read more: Dermot O’Leary ‘will replace Phillip Schofield’ if he ever quits This Morning
While he accepts the career merry-go-round is part of the TV industry, he pondered some of the criticism – particularly elements of it aimed at Alison who he believes has his back, and he has hers.
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