GOOD MORNING BEN! - ‘EXERCISE IS MY MEDITATION'

TV BREAKFAST HOST BEN SHEPHARD REVEALS HOW HIS FAMILY FITNESS ROUTINE AND FRIENDS ARE HELPING HIM THROUGH THE CHALLENGES OF COVID-19 AND LOCKDOWN.

- VICKY DEARDEN

Can it really be 22 years since Ben Shephard first appeared on our TV screens? He started out in 1998 hosting The Bigger Breakfast with Dermot O’Leary and Melanie Sykes, and is now the chipper ying to Piers Morgan’s waspish yang on Good Morning Britain.

Lockdown restrictions have meant big changes at work for Ben, 44, who has learnt to wield his own make-up brush.

The pandemic has touched him personally with Derek Draper, husband of GMB colleague Kate Garraway, in hospital with coronavirus since April. “Kate’s been phenomenal, she’s an incredible person,” Ben says of his close friend.

Concerned viewers recently pointed out how tired Ben himself looked on screen but he pointed out, “Well, I am! You go on [TV] first thing in the morning, you’re knackered.”

Ben, who also presents Ninja Warrior and Tipping Point, shares his stunning family home with Annie, his wife of 16 years, and their sons Sam, 14, and Jack, 13. His garden, complete with “gin bench” and pristine lawn, often features on Instagram and is like a scene from the Chelsea Flower Show!

Last year he quit Goals On Sunday after nine years for the sake of Sam and Jack. “My boys are at an age when they need me around, perhaps even more now than when they were younger,” he explained.

Here, Ben chats about taming his impatience, life in lockdown and competition with his sons…