This Morning called out for terrible hypocrisy over two conflicting items

The This Morning editor must have a touch of this flu that’s doing the rounds – it’s the only reason we can fathom for an unfortunate and unforgivable juxtaposition of two story items today.

First, Phil and Holly spoke to a young woman who claims to have fallen prey to the new “pull a pig” trend, in which a person pretends to be interested in someone – only to later reveal it’s a cruel prank.

Then, less than an hour later, the hosts interviewed comedian Jimmy Carr about his Comedy Central show Your Face Or Mine.

The premise of the programme is to judge couples’ look – which one is hotter.

Viewers saw this as shocking hypocrisy.

The first story saw the devastated victim of an alleged ‘pull-a-pig’ prank reveal how the cruel joke left her humiliated and knocked her confidence.

Sophie Stevenson, 24, made headlines this week after flying to Amsterdam to meet a man she’d fallen for on a holiday, only to be stood up at the airport and told it was all a nasty prank.

She accused the man, Jesse Mateman, of leaving her alone in a foreign country before texting two pig emojis alongside the message: “You’ve been pigged. It’s all been a joke.”

Sophie says she was the victim of a cruel prank [Credit: ITV]

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‘Pull-a-pig’ is a disgusting game in which groups of men dare each other to pull the most unattractive or unappealing woman in the room.

Appearing on This Morning alongside her mum, Sophie said she’d enjoyed a holiday romance with Jesse after they met at a hotel in Barcelona, which led to them exchanging texts and phone calls every day before arranging to meet up.

She claimed he’d wanted to come to Manchester to see her, but wasn’t able to fly until the end of October. As she was keen to see him sooner she booked a flight to Amsterdam.

Jesse has denied Sophie’s claims [Credit: ITV]

Sophie said Jesse had texted to say he’d meet her in the arrivals hall – but, shockingly, when her plane landed, he was nowhere to be seen.

“I waited at the airport two and a half hours, I tried to call him, I tried to message him, I tried to message his friends,” she said.

“But he’d blocked me – which I thought was weird.”

Sophie said she was “panicking” about why Jesse, 21, hadn’t turned up, and ended up having to get the shuttle bus to her hotel so she could charge her phone.

Sophie says she was humiliated by the alleged prank [Credit: ITV]

While there, she received the text message that would change everything.

“I think it came in at about 11.30pm,” she recalled. “I’d already spoken to my family and said he wasn’t coming, so I was a mess. I was absolutely petrified, crying my eyes out and just wanted to go home. I’d already changed my flight.

“When he finally messaged me back and I heard the noise on my phone, at first I thought he was going to tell me something had happened, he was on his way.

“Then I opened the message and it said, ‘You’ve been pigged’. There were two pig emojis. Then it said, ‘It’s all been a joke’ with two laughing face emojis.

“I just paused for a minute and was like, ‘What?’ And then I just replied saying, ‘How can you be so cruel?’ but he’d blocked me’.”

Sophie said that was her last contact with Jesse.

Holly & Phil were disgusted by the ‘pull-a-pig’ game [Credit: ITV]

Describing how the prank had affected her, she said: “Instantly, it made me feel sick.”

Her mum said: “She hasn’t wanted to come out of the house or leave the house at all. For me, as a mum, what he’s done to her, he’s just knocked all of her self-confidence.”

Sophie added: “It’s embarrassing, it’s humiliating. The only reason I’ve done this is because I don’t want it to happen to other girls.”

Her mum added: “She’s beautiful.”

Holly and Phil were clearly shocked by the story and agreed, with Holly telling Sophie: “Move on, draw a line, don’t let it affect you and don’t let him ruin your life.”

She also said: “I’m so sorry you’ve gone through this. It’s disgusting. It really is.”

Phil simply said: “You are gorgeous… you are lovely.”

Holly told Sophie to hold her head up high [Credit: ITV]

Jesse, meanwhile, has vehemently denied Sophie’s version of events. Phil revealed that This Morning was told to contact his lawyers when they texted his number for comment.

In his latest statement he has admitted to sleeping with Sophie in Barcelona, but called it a one-night stand, saying he didn’t stay the night, there was no romance and he had no contact with her after they left Spain.

Sophie denied that, with her mum saying: “He’s trying to make out she’s lying, but what would we gain out of that? I’ve been there when she’s been on the phone to him and he knows I have. Am I lying as well?”

Giving her side of the story, Sophie said: “When we arrived in Barcelona on the first day, the terrorist attack had just happened, so we were in lock down at the hotel which meant we couldn’t go out. My friend and I were sitting on the roof top terrace at the hotel.

Sophie said she felt sick after getting the text [Credit: ITV]

“They were staying at the same hotel. We started chatting, as you do, and we just got on really well with them and had a good night. We didn’t see them the next day as we kept missing each other, but after that we spent every day together. We went to the beach, just hung out while we were away.

“I think because of what had happened, we just felt safe around them and we thought they were all really nice guys.”

Read more: This Morning slammed by viewers over unforgiveable error

Sophie added: “We spoke about having a long distance romance otherwise I wouldn’t have gone to Amsterdam. Every day we would message from the moment I woke up to the moment I was going to sleep.”

In a statement to Mail Online, Jesse’s lawyer said: “Jesse has admitted to a one night stand with this girl.

“He did not stay the night with her and there was no romance. He had no contact with her after they left Barcelona. It was a one night stand’.”