Piers Morgan's awkward boast just before being beaten by Graham Norton at NTAs

06 September 2023 , 22:05

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Piers Morgan's awkward boast just before being beaten by Graham Norton at NTAs

Piers Morgan claims he wasn't booed at the National Television Awards on Tuesday night - after being booed inside London's O2 Arena.

The former Good Morning Britain presenter, 58, says he "was basically greeted like One Direction" - a group that has been on hiatus since 2015 - at the star-studded event, despite boos clearly being heard as host Joel Dommett mentioned his name to the packed audience.

Piers was nominated in the TV interviews category at the NTAs for Piers Morgan Uncensored on Talk TV but lost out to Graham Norton, who won for his popular, long-running BBC chat show. Moments before finding out he wouldn't be taking an award home, Piers claimed he had no competition.

"They’d all rather shoot themselves then give me an award but, but if it’s just on interviews, hard to say that anyone else has had bigger ones that we’ve had in the last year," he said on the red carpet when discussing his nomination before heading inside on Tuesday night, adding: "I don’t have any competition."

Piers Morgan didn't win the award (ITV)

Inside the arena, before an award was even handed out, things got tense as host Joel gave This Morning a shout out - saying "everyone loves" the ITV show - only for the room to be filled with a chorus of boos. Piers also got a harsh welcome from those inside the arena.

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Then, before cutting for commercials, host Joel announced the best TV interview award would be handed out next and cheekily told Piers “don’t be walking out of this interview as you’re in this one” - poking fun at the former Good Morning Britain anchor storming off set when called out for his comments on Meghan Markle last year.

Piers took to Twitter (aka X) on Wednesday night to claim he actually received a warm welcome inside London's O2 Arena, sharing a clip from him nomination being read out and telling his followers: "Hadn’t realised until I watched the NTAs back that far from being booed as some click-baiting wastrels have claimed, I was basically greeted like One Direction last night."

However, Piers didn't include the clip of host Joel giving him a shout out at the very start of ceremony, when the mention of the controversial journalist's name generated some boos from the crowd - something ITV viewers watching the NTAs at home quickly picked up on.

Zoe Delaney