This Morning's Ben Shephard makes cheeky confession live on air as co-host shocked

Ben Shephard left Cat Deeley gobsmacked after making a cheeky comment on This Morning today.

The pair were chatting with three cast members of Rivals - Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell and Bella Maclean, who portray Maud O'Hara, Rupert Campbell-Black and Taggie respectively. The series, now available on Disney+, is an adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper's novel. It centres around two upper-class adversaries - Rupert and Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant).

The show, filled with passion, scandal and sex, has become a sensation.

During the interview with Alex, Victoria and Bella about their time on the show, Ben made a personal admission, stating: "The Jilly Cooper novels were in our house and if only I'd known the content of those novels, I would have read a book!"

However, the conversation took an awkward turn when Ben asked Alex about his experience of Riders, only for Alex to correct him. He responded: "Rivals? " as Ben quickly apologised and Alex went on to admit he didn't know much about it before he starred in it.

"I didn't know anything about it," Alex confessed about his own connection to the book that inspired the series, "Except that the book was next to The Joy Of Sex in my mum and dad's room and I couldn't climb that high! ".

In the course of the discussion, Alex also disclosed that he performed an impromptu naked cartwheel across a tennis court before a crucial scene to feel at ease. He confessed he is "actually quite shy" but chose to lighten the mood on set by stripping off and doing the cartwheel.

In a candid conversation with Square Mile, he revealed: "The first time I believed myself as Rupert was the tennis scene. Until that time, I felt like I was groping... No, that's a terrible phrase! I was feeling around also a terrible phrase! ".

He continued to deliberate on his approach to embodying the character, saying: "I was working out whether I was Rupert and how to play Rupert and believe myself as Rupert and there was something about having to be totally naked; I had nothing to hide behind. [When I filmed the scene], either people will accept me as Rupert or they won't. That felt like a really important turning point."

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.