Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary mock ‘fake news’ she is engaged: ‘Cut the music!’

It comes after rumours suggested Hammond and her boyfriend Ben Hawkins were engaged

Ellie Muir
Friday 24 February 2023 16:18 GMT
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Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary mock ‘fake news’ that presenter is engaged

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Alison Hammond has revealed that she is not engaged to partner Ben Hawkins during Friday’s episode of This Morning (24 February).

It comes just days after Hawkins’ father, Colin Hawkins reportedly toldMailOnline that the couple “proposed to one another.”

The 48-year-old addressed the rumours live on-air with her co-presenter Dermot O’Leary, who appeared to enjoy mocking the “fake news”.

O’Leary jokingly opened the show to the sounds of wedding bells and exclaimed: “I hear a congratulations are in order – someone is getting married.”

“Cut the music! I’m not engaged, I’m so sorry I’m not engaged,” laughed Hammond.

“It’s fake news, babes, I’m not engaged,” she added.

“I told you, if I was ever to get engaged or get married, I would be the first person to tell you! I’d put it all over Instagram and TikTok!”

O’Leary then joked: “I was looking forward to walking you down the aisle.”

Earlier this week, Colin Hawkins, 72, told the publication that his son and Hammond had “proposed to one another”, but said “there are no rings that I know of”.

Alison Hammond shut down rumours that she is engaged to her boyfriend Ben Hawkins
Alison Hammond shut down rumours that she is engaged to her boyfriend Ben Hawkins (Getty Images)

Colin praised Hammond as the “nicest woman”, adding that she is always willing to “help”.

“If you go to her when you’re in trouble, she will help you – that’s the way she is,” he said.

The TV presenter is said to have employed Ben Hawkins to tend to her garden at her West Midlands home two years ago, and the pair later started dating.

In October 2021, Hammond revealed that she’s ready for her boyfriend to “pop the question”.

The Good Morning Britain presenter has been dating the unnamed man out of the public eye for two years.

“There is someone special, and if he wants to pop the question, he can pop away,” Hammond told MailOnline at the The Ethnicity Awards in London.

In May, 2021 Hammond revealed that she was in a relationship after her co-host O’Leary let it slip.

O’Leary said at the time: “You’re not available anymore, are you, but if you were – jeez, what a catch!”

One month later, Hammond spoke about the relationship on Lorraine, after host Lorraine Kelly said: “Congratulations I know, because Dermot revealed it to everybody, cause you were trying to keep this lovely romance under wraps.”

Hammond responded with: “You don’t want to put pressure on anything do you?”

“Well, all I’m going to say – I’m not going to say we’re in love and everything – all I’m going to say is he makes my heart sing and I feel content.”

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