This Morning and animals are usually a combination for chaos and things were certainly no different as Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield were introduced to a pair of skunks on Wednesday.
Holly ended up having to dart for cover when the the furry creature looked like it was about to douse her with its foul-smelling spray.
The pair were just wrapping up a segment about skunks on the ITV daytime show when Holly remarked: “And you didn’t spray, you were very well-behaved.”
However, just seconds later, the one she had been holding raised its tail and looked like it was about to let one go, prompting Holly to jump up and dash to the back of the studio.
She asked exasperatedly: “What’s happening, is it going to go?!”
Hiding behind a pillar, she joked: “I’m getting out of that 10 foot spray.”
Phil could not contain his laughter, saying: “That was fantastic. You are such a scaredy cat!”
“You saw with your own eyes what just happened,” she replied.
Skunks secrete a foul-smelling spray from their anal glands when they feel under threat, squirting it as far as three metres.
The liquid is a mixture of chemicals including sulphur, accounting for the subsequent rotten eggs smell, which is so powerful it can be detected by a human nose up to 3.5 miles downwind.
Of course, this pair of skunks are not the only animals to run amok in the This Morning studio.
Who could forget the time a shetland pony opened his bowels right in front of a horrified Holly and Phil, or the time when a pair of pooches left the hosts with a clean-up on their hands?
Holly and Phil will celebrate 10 years of presenting together on the ITV daytime show on Thursday.
In a recent joint interview to mark the milestone, Phil recalled a time when they were on holiday and drunkenly got lost in the Portuguese woods.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
