Alison Hammond felt "nervous" sitting next to Dermot O'Leary on 'This Morning.'

Alison Hamond felt nervous sitting next to Dermot OLeary on the set of this morning after social distancing rules were abandoned

Alison Hamond felt nervous sitting next to Dermot OLeary on the set of this morning after social distancing rules were abandoned

The 47-year-old TV star joined forces with former 'X Factor' host Dermot,49, to front the Friday edition of the morning show in place of regular presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield back in 2021 when COVID-19 restrictions were in place on-set and admitted it was strange to rehearse "normally" now that social distancing rules no longer apply following their summer break.

She said: "We had never done it 'normally' before. I was actually a bit nervous sitting next to him because I was so used to working and hosting with that [two-metre] distance between us."

The former 'Big Brother' contestant - who first joined the ITV daytime show back in 2003 as a competition segment host and, along with Dermot, replaced longstanding hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes for the Friday slot back in November - was replaced with a with a rotation of other famous faces such as Rylan Clark, Josie Gibson, Vernon Kay, and Rochelle Humes over the course of the summer but Dermot admitted that he "still forgets" that social distancing rules have changed upon his return to the programme.

In the joint interview, he told The Sun newspaper's TVBiz Column: "I sometimes still forget because I automatically go to sit two metres apart and Alsion often says 'Get closer!'"

The TV duo are set to return to their regular slot on the show on Friday (09.09.22), while Holly and Phil will be fronting the show from Mondays until Thursdays once again from September 5.