Last night The National Television Awards returned to Wembley arena. Celebrities graced the red carpet to adoring fans and watched performances from the likes of Lewis Capaldi. While the show was a spectacular celebration of British television, there is only one thing on everyone's minds this morning: Alison Hammond was robbed!
Nominated for best presenter award, Alison lost out to TV legends Ant and Dec - who happen to win the award every. single. year. Their 21st win since the award shows inception in 1995, it's become something of a novelty that they consistently take home the prize. But frankly, that novelty has very much worn off.
Alison has been on television for 20 years and is a staple personality on daytime television, hosting This Morning since 2002. Her laugh alone could cheer anyone up! Naturally, we had high hopes this was her year, but apparently not.
This Morning did win an award and Alison rightfully hijacked that moment to say what we were all thinking.'Now we all know I should have won one of these tonight,' she laughed into the mic. 'Bradley Walsh, Graham Norton and the legends that are Ant and Dec are amazing but let's be honest - I should have won one.'
And the public very much agree. One viewer tweeted, 'Dame Alison Hammond was robbed. This should have been her year.' Another said, 'So so boring Ant and Dec win every year!'
And we do too. While Ant and Dec are amazing presenters - it's time someone else was awarded for their efforts. As well as Alison, there are so many amazing female presenters being overlooked from AJ Odudu to Rochelle Humes - and yet Alison was the only female to be shortlisted in the best presenter category. British television has so much to give in terms of talent from so many diverse backgrounds, why don't they deserve to be championed too? There has to be major change.
The icing on the cake came from Alison's This Morning appearance today. Just when we thought we couldn't love this woman any more, she revealed that she actually thought she had won the Best Presenter award she was nominated for. She told Dermot O'Leary, 'I’ll be honest with you, you were the funniest partner, you sat next to me all yesterday and you just made me laugh throughout the whole show. But the funniest moment was - obviously I was up for an award - and I heard ‘Ant and Dec’ being called but I heard ‘Alison’. In my head, I heard ‘Alison’.
'So then I reached across to Dermot and said, "Did they say Alison?’" and Dermot went, "No. They didn’t say Alison." I was so shameful. It’s so embarrassing!'
'I wasn’t joking. I said "Did they say Alison babes? And you went no." But what a great night! We are truly, truly, the whole team, they all work incredibly hard. We are so grateful for this award.'
For this hilarious moment alone, next year the gong has to go to Alison!