Rylan Clark and Emma Willis chatted with two pet lovers before things went awry live on-air.
Viewers were left fuming during This Morning’s segment titled “Britain’s Most Spoiled Pets at Christmas,” as they chatted with a cat owner, who had brought her beloved Coco into the ITV studios.
However, minutes into their chat a second guest joined them on the sofa with her pet pony also in tow, causing Coco to freak out.
A shocked Rylan exclaimed: “Coco’s gone under the sofa.”
Trying to assure their guest and viewers that all was well, he mused: “He’s fine. Let’s move on to our second guest.
“Alice. How’re you this morning? Teddy [the pony] who is the star of the show has been trotting about this whole interview.”
But mid-sentence panic quickly set in as Coco managed to remove himself from his lead and bolted.
“I should say to all the crew that we have lost Coco,” he uttered. “Off the lead. There is a cat on the loose. I don’t know where the cat is.”
Rylan tried climbing over the back of the sofa while Emma dropped to her knees and began to look underneath the sofa.
She confirmed: “He is under the sofa.”
Viewers were left unimpressed by the studio disaster as they took to X, formerly Twitter, and issued the same complaint.
As @Dyana_ fumed: “Having had 4 Bengal cats in my life, I’ve been offered paid modelling gigs for them in the past, but I would never exploit my cats knowing they would get extremely stressed if I took them to unfamiliar places, and also there is the risk of them getting lost. Nope. #ThisMorning.”
@Jamesogrady551 commented: “The cat is absolutely terrified of the horse. #ThisMorning.”
While @Ralph_Hapschatt echoed: “The cat is terrified of the horse.”
@smithlemsford fumed: “#ThisMorning that cat is petrified. Licking lips, now hiding under the sofa, now running with tail down – totally irresponsible owner. The poor cats petrified. The owner needs to put more into looking after her cat better. Really upsetting to see.”
@louisebowman133 raged: “The cats not sure about the pony,seriously why use animals for fame ffs.#thismorning.”(sic)
@RianSiniscalco remarked: “As a cat lover I find it really uncomfortable seeing the cat scared on this stupid segment #thismorning.”
@zoeharvoutt1878 questioned: “Why on earth would you put a pony and a cat in the same room?!! Who don’t know each other! I have both and I really can’t get my head around it.”
@TraylorHolmes wrote: “That poor cat is terrified of that pony #ThisMorning.”
@ScottMoffett01 quipped: “Can we have the small horse and cat presenting tomorrow please #thismorning?”
This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10am.