Good Morning Britain’s Ed Balls was forced to awkwardly backtrack after jokingly calling his co-star Charlotte Hawkins “podgy” in a throwback clip of the TV presenter

Ed Balls has come under fire from Good Morning Britain viewers this morning after calling his co-star Charlotte Hawkins “podgy” in her first This Morning appearance. During Tuesday’s show, GMB shared a throwback clip of Charlotte making her first This Morning cameo as a model back in 1996.

“I think you’ve aged beautifully,” he said. “I would say you look younger now than then, back then you looked a bit more podgy.” An outraged Charlotte responded: “Podgy? We’ll have words after this.” Former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star Melvin Odoom had been on the show with his showbiz roundup and the presenters had been discussing Mariah Carey’s tips on how she avoids ageing.

Charlotte was left shocked when Ed Balls made the remark live on air

And immediately after Ed had made the comment, Melvin jumped in to repeatedly tell Ed to ‘move on’ from the situation, adding: “I’m trying to help you, my brother.” Just before sending the programme to an advert break, Charlotte told viewers: “I’ll have a word with Ed. In the meantime, here’s Laura with the weather.”

But fans of ITV’s early news programme were quick to have their say about the savage comment, and flooded social media with their reaction. One said: “He’ll be up in front of the producers for that quip,” whilst another claimed: “Ed Balls is so cringy and awkward around women.”

A third viewer was equally shocked at Ed’s remark and tried to remind the former politician of the ‘irony’ within the situation as they wrote: “Did Ed really just say Charlotte looked fat when she was younger? Has he looked in the mirror lately? He’s so rude!”

The GMB presenters had been looking at a throwback clip of Charlotte on This Morning
In May this year, former Strictly Come Dancing star Charlotte, who previously fronted Sunrise alongside Eamonn Holmes, celebrated her milestone 50th birthday and fans were shocked upon learning her real age. During a Good Morning Britain broadcast, then-hosts Adil Ray and Kate Garraway stopped everything for a special bulletin. Kate excitedly announced: “Now, we do have some major breaking news about someone in this very studio.”

As she showered praise on her colleague, viewers were treated to nostalgic photos of Charlotte’s youth, including images of her with a teddy bear and beaming on horseback, with an amused Charlotte exclaiming: “Where did you get these from?!” Humorously pointing out her family’s ‘betrayal’, Kate chuckled at how they had sent in the snaps.

But it was an old video from early in Charlotte’s career that really caught Adil off-guard, leading him to jest: “What on earth? ! You look older there! You look 63!”.

Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh, confessing her attempts to look more ‘mature’ back then. The festive mood continued as Laura Tobin rolled in with a birthday cake trolley, right before Adil handed over a beautiful bouquet of flowers, reports Bristol Live.

As the celebrations drew to a close, Charlotte shared that her daughter keeps reminding her of turning half a century. Kate exclaimed: “Happy Birthday, Charlotte. I still can’t quite believe she’s 50. I think it’s a lie.”

Viewers rapidly flocked to Twitter to echo Kate’s astonishment, with many finding it hard to grasp that Charlotte is 50. One viewer commented: “Happy birthday Charlotte, you can see what a beautiful person you are inside and out 50? I will take some of what you are having.”

Another chimed in with: “Doesn’t look anywhere near 50,” and a third person gushed: “Happy 50th Birthday, Charlotte [sic] Are you sure? You look amazing. Enjoy your day.”