Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ben’s dazetime TV show
Presenter did GMB while out of it on painkillers
TELLY host Ben Shephard has revealed that he presented Good Morning Britain while in a haze because of strong painkillers.
And the star, 43, said that his co-host Kate Garraway had to step in when he started talking without realising it.
Ben said: “What was interesting was doing the show after I did my back and I did a couple of shows on some very heavy painkillers. “And those were shows that were quite surreal – you can imagine, it was a bit of daze. “Kate Garraway had to turn round and tell me to be quiet. “She said, ‘Shush’. And I said, ‘Did I say that out loud?’ and she said, ‘Yeah’. I was taking tramadol which numbed the pain brilliantly.
“But I quickly decided I wanted to deal with this in a conscious way, and not be out of it. So I came off the pills.”
Ben suffered a slipped disc while giving a mate a boozy bear hug and has since had two operations. He said: “I am falling apart. I had a very middle-aged injury. It was shocking.
“It wasn’t like a big moment. I wasn’t jumping around, misbehaving or being very childish or anything.
“I had literally been to the pub with a friend and said goodbye to him and walked away – and my back just went. I think I was overly affectionate with my hug goodbye maybe.
“He went one way, I went the other way, and that was it – it went!”
Sporty Ben is a Soccer Aid regular and took part in an ultra-triathlon – cycling, running and swimming 210 miles. But in recent years he has also broken an elbow and torn ligaments.