Livid This Morning viewers shared the same complaint about presenter Alison Hammond after her latest telly appearance.
The TV star featured on the ITV daytime programme on Tuesday and shared a behind-the-scenes look at the new series of For the Love of Dogs with Alison Hammond.
She took over as host after the late Paul O’Grady passed away aged 67 in March 2023.
The docuseries sees Alison follow in Paul’s footsteps and share the stories of pooches and cats at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.
However, the overall reception was not initially positive with some watchers being critical of Alison.
After featuring on This Morning, viewers have shared their take on Alison’s role in the show again with many commenting that she doesn’t actually own a dog and is reportedly scared of pooches too. Others even called for her to be replaced.
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The TV star featured on the ITV daytime programme on Tuesday and shared a behind the scenes look of the new series, For the Love of Dogs with Alison Hammond
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She took over as host after the late Paul O’Grady passed away aged 67 in March 2023. The docuseries sees Alison follow in Paul’s footsteps and share the stories of pooches and cats at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home
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However, the overall reception was not initially positive with some watchers being critical of Alison, pictured centre
One posted on X: ‘How come someone who DOES NOT OWN a dog present a show about dogs. At least Paul O’Grady absolutely loved dogs.’
Another commented: ‘Fancy giving show about rehoming dogs to someone who has admitted they don’t like dogs.’
A fourth wrote: ‘Is it just me, or does anyone else get the feeling that Alison is only pretending to be a dog person? She doesn’t seem to show a natural love or genuine affection for them. She’s definitely no Paul O’Grady! I’d love to see Clare Balding present the show instead.’
Another said: ‘Dr Scott would’ve been a better choice than Alison to present for the love of dogs #thismorning.’
Claire-Louise Nixon, director of the Wheels To Paws charity, previously recalled being interviewed by Alison in 2019 and claimed the broadcaster was ‘scared’ of her brood of four-legged friends
She told The Sun that when when she asked why Alison was going ahead with the interview, the TV star relied: ‘I’ve got to pay my mortgage’.
Claire-Louise told publication: ‘Alison was scared of dogs when she came to interview me so we had to do it outside’.
‘I did ask her: ‘Why did you do this interview if you are scared of dogs?’ She replied: ‘I’ve got to pay my mortgage.”
Alison, who has never owned a dog, was interviewing Claire-Louise in Milton Keynes for the This Morning feature The Incredible Woman Who Rescued 27 Dogs.
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After featuring on This Morning, viewers have shared their take on Alison’s role in the show again with many commenting that she doesn’t actually own a dog and is reportedly scared of pooches too. While others called for her to be replaced
An ITV spokesman previously told MailOnline: ‘The decision to film outside was made by the production team entirely independently of Alison purely on the basis that it was a more appropriate fit for the item and the show and any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate.’
Alison’s fear of dogs stems from seeing a young boy get brutally attacked by one, as she describes in her 2021 autobiography, You’ve Got To Laugh.
She says in the book: ‘The dog took a massive chunk out of his leg and blood poured everywhere. I had to help him hobble back to his mum, screaming in pain.
‘For weeks afterwards, the kids on our street never stopped talking about savage dogs and gushing wounds.’
As she gears up for a second series fronting the programme, Alison admitted she was ‘surprised’ with the amount of trolling she received after she took over the helm.
She told Heat magazine: ‘I was actually surprised with how much [trolling] I got for doing the show.
‘I could understand in the sense that Paul [O’Grady] was so loved, but people were saying ‘How can she do it when she doesn’t have a dog? How can does she love dogs when she doesn’t have one?’
‘It’s like saying, ‘How can you love children when you haven’t got kids?’ It’s such a flawed argument for me, and all I would say is if you don’t want to watch it, don’t watch it.’
The heart-warming show began in 2012 as fanatical dog lover Paul visited Battersea and met with the pooches desperate to be rehomed.
The show went on to become a huge ratings hit, winning the National Television Award for Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme in 2019 and 2023.
Alison took over in April 2024 for one six-part series which earned mixed reviews from fans.
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Alison’s fear of dogs stems from seeing a young boy get brutally attacked, as she describes in her 2021 autobiography, You’ve Got To Laugh
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The heart-warming show began in 2012 as fanatical dog lover Paul visited Battersea and met with the pooches desperate to be rehomed
Receiving a torrent of abuse online, long-time viewers of the show inevitably compared her to Paul, remarking she has no pets of her own and therefore can’t fully put her ‘heart’ into the stories of the dogs featured.
However, Alison shared her own side of the story as she explained it would be unfair for her to have a dog due to her hectic schedule in television.
Speaking on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdecombe’s podcast Parenting Hell, Alison explained: ‘It’s so weird because everyone is like ‘She hasn’t got a dog’ but I can’t have a dog.
‘I wouldn’t be around it would be unfair. I do love dogs and that’s the reason I don’t have a dog.’
