She was thrilled when it was introduced final 12 months she could be entering into the late Paul O’Grady’s sneakers as host of For The Love Of Dogs.
But it seems that Alison Hammond is struggling to build the rapport her predecessor loved with the ITV present’s four-legged associates – crew members say she is scared of huge dogs.
Ms Hammond, 49, has by no means owned a canine, and whereas she apparently adores assembly smaller breeds throughout shoots for the programme at London’s Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, bigger ones are mentioned to startle her.
One supply mentioned: ‘The show is only in very early pre-production filming and Alison is great, but she finds the bigger dogs frightening.
‘She loves cuddling up to the little cute ones but then you come across a massive one and it’s a special story. But then except you’re used to being round dogs it’s intimidating.’
Show insiders say that her fears stem from a devastating childhood reminiscence of witnessing a ‘savage’ canine attack on a neighbour in Birmingham.
Writing in her 2021 autobiography You’ve Got To Laugh, the This Morning presenter revealed: ‘I saw the whole thing happen: 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, and for weeks afterwards the kids on our street never stopped talking about savage dogs and gushing wounds.’
Social media was awash with criticism of the choice to rent Ms Hammond because the substitute for canine lover Mr O’Grady, who hosted the present from 2012 till shortly earlier than his dying final March.
Concern over her questionable suitability on account of her lack of expertise with dogs prompted her to reply on social media final month. She mentioned of taking over the function: ‘It’s an enormous accountability. And that’s what I wish to do the present as a result of I wish to discover out about dogs, and I’ve at all times needed a canine. You know that. But I’ve at all times needed a canine.
‘But you have to take it very, very seriously, don’t you?’
Ms Hammond, who made her profession breakthrough as a contestant on the 2002 sequence of Big Brother, has turn out to be probably the most sought-after ladies in tv after spending greater than 15 years as This Morning’s showbusiness reporter.
After being made a presenter on Fridays alongside Dermot O’Leary, she was employed by Channel 4 to host The Great British Bake Off, a choice that’s mentioned to have angered ITV bosses who have been eager to maintain her completely on their channels.
The subsequent sequence of For The Love Of Dogs is because of be broadcast later this 12 months.
