ITV This Morning viewers say 'it's too early for this' as they ask 'what am I watching'

This Morning viewers have criticised ITV's decision to air the first segment on the daytime show. As the programme kicked off on Thursday (12 December), Ben Shephard and co-host Cat Deeley introduced viewers to "the man who lives with four elf dolls".

Nick who lives in North Wales shares his home with four life-size elves that cost £3,000 each. He obtained his first elf in 2014 when he used to fly model aircraft and someone said to him: "you've got no pilots". Nick added that he thought it "would be quite nice to have an elf pilot", but as he couldn't acquire one he instead found a place that could make him a human-size elf, claiming they're more "fun and interesting" full-size.

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He introduced viewers to his "unusual family", a forest elf, a night elf, the princess guardian, and the Queen elf. The This Morning hosts confirmed that he does their hair, makeup and dresses them, while one of the elves he "takes to bed every night".

While he admitted he does anthropomorphise them, he doesn't "sit there and have conversations with them", and that "they're nice to cuddle". He continued to share with the audience that the elves "have metal skeletons" meaning they retain the heat and have the same warmth as a human, before adding: "it's better than the sadness of just cuddling a pillow."

However, some viewers weren't as intrigued and took to X - formerly known as Twitter to criticise This Morning. @GinaLouLoves wrote: "#thismorning it's way too early to be seeing this on TV!" While @flutterbump complained: "What am I watching at 10am? #thismorning".

Ben Shephard asked Nick if he shares a physical relationship with the elves, in which he answered: "she's wearing more clothes than most women do". The off-hand comment also angered some viewers, with @StephMarbella who responded: "Oooookkkk …. I see some attitude issues here … #thismorning".

Before the interview ended, co-hosts Ben and Cat asked how people react to these elves, with Nick responding that "strangers can be a little bit shocked when they come to the house." He followed this by discussing how he took one of his elves to get a wig installed, and the women wanted to see what the elf's anatomy looked like. This was met by a shocked Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley who could only muster up "wow!" as a response. Nick also told the co-hosts that his elves are "beautiful" and he "loves them" to which Ben said: "that's apparent".

This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10am