'Naked' Martin Lewis issues plea to This Morning viewers as he becomes host 21 years after debut

Martin Lewis had somewhat of a plea to This Morning viewers as he made his hosting debut on the programme - 21 years after his first appearance on the ITV daytime show.

It was announced last week that the Money Saving Expert founder would be joining Josie Gibson at the helm on Monday (March 4) as part of a 'one-off' agreement ahead of the start of new permanent hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley next week, from Monday, March 11.

Ahead of his first stint hosting the show, Martin shared some behind the scenes snaps from the ITV studio and said on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Morning all. Just finished the pre programme briefing meeting for my @thismorning hosting debut. Chatted with Josie and getting ready for the show. Feeling slightly naked not wearing a jacket on the telly."

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As the show got underway, Josie gave Martin a warm welcomed before he commented: "This isn’t an audition, I don’t want the job, I’ve got a day job, I’ve just always wanted to do this."

However, he jokingly urged viewers to take is easy on him and not to flood social media with complaints if they 'don’t enjoy' his appearance. He said: "Everybody watching, I hope you enjoy today. And if you don’t, don’t worry because it’s a one-off. So you don’t need to tell me on social media if you didn’t enjoy it, I don’t need to know!"

Despite not wanting the role long term, Martin did say it was a 'bucket list' job for him and something he's wanted to do for the last two decades and the show was quick to remind him of his first stint on the programme by sharing the throwback clip of him