Alison Hammond replaces Holly Willoughby from ITV show amid Phillip public appearance?

This Morning fans were baffled as Holly Willoughby went missing from the morning show on Thursday after Phillip Schofield's cheerful public appearance.

Host Josie Gibson, 38, was joined by the much-loved Alison Hammond, 48.

Alison - who has recently made her debut as presenter of Bake Off - joked she was getting jealous of seeing Josie and Holly together on the show.

Although Friday is typically Holly's day off - viewers were left in confusion, because the reasons of her absence is unknown.

Beaming Josie kicked off the morning show as she said: 'Look who's joined me. It's only the one and only Alison Hammond!'

'Oh, Josie! I hope you don't mind, I got a bit jealous. I saw you and Holly and you were talking about being blonde and I thought 'I'm going to shake this up a bit. I'm getting in there,' replied Allison.

'Is that ok? You don't mind?'

But Josie quipped : 'No, of course not, I love you!', while Alison replied: 'I love you too.'

Fans took to X as they reacted to the presenter's absence, wondering why Holly, 42, didn't previously her unusual non-attendance.

One wrote: '#ThisMorning princess Holly missing again? It is about time ITV made her work for her £1million. 5 days a week 48 weeks a year like the rest of us.'

It comes after the 61-year-old had a rare outing with Stephanie Lowe and their daughter Molly in west London, even though he had previously admitted to his wife that he had been unfaithful to a younger male lover.