Alison Hammond returns to This Morning and says: ‘I feel guilty I didn’t have a heart condition’

Expand Alison Hammond appeared to take the mickey out of Holly Willoughby as she returned to This Morning on Friday

The 51-year-old was back on the ITV morning show after her shocking exit last week, but used a cutaway from Lorraine beforehand to seemingly impersonate Willoughby’s infamous ‘Are you okay?’ speech, which she delivered after Phillip Schofield’s acrimonious exit.

Sitting alongside her co-host Dermot O’Leary, Hammond promised she would tell viewers all about her health scare.

She then said: ‘Guys, are you okay? I hope you are,’ which was met with laughter from Lorraine Kelly in her studio, who dubbed it ‘absolute genius’.

When the start of This Morning finally rolled around properly, O’Leary announced: ‘Alison Hammond’s back!’ He then added: ‘Don’t leave me like that again.’

The TV presenter left the show clutching her chest and struggling to breathe, which she later revealed was a panic attack she suffered on air.

She went on to recount the experience, which she said she felt sure in the moment was a heart attack, and explained the real reason why she ran off camera so quickly.

‘Thank you for holding the fort and thank you to everyone who sent their good wishes. All I can say is, in that moment, it’s probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through,’ she said.

Hammond went on to compare it to her favourite show Stranger Things, saying the moment felt like entering the Upside Down realm.

She added: ‘It was a panic attack. I feel guilty that I didn’t have a heart condition, a little bit, because it was so much of a fuss.

‘I didn’t know. It was the first time I’ve experienced anything like that.’

She continued: ‘Secondly, it was live on TV, so I thought, “Oh my gosh, my son might be watching”. So I just ran. I ran off TV. I would never do that normally, but I just couldn’t catch my breath.’

O’Leary recalled how quickly the turn happened, after Hammond told him off camera that she wasn’t feeling well just 20 seconds before the attack.

‘It just was like a wave, which I now found out is adrenaline,’ said Hammond. ‘That came into my body. I couldn’t catch my breath. I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack.’

The Bake Off host added: ‘I’m so glad I’m here. I feel grateful. I feel so thankful to God. To everything in life. I’m so happy that I’m here and I’m so happy to see you,’ she said, cupping O’Leary’s face in her hands.

The pair then shared a hug as Hammond praised him for being ‘absolutely wonderful’ in the aftermath of the health scare.

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This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.

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