Awkward moment Richard Madeley starts GMB debate over shoplifting after admitting to doing it himself
RICHARD Madeley was involved in a rather awkward moment on Good Morning Britain involving a shoplifting debate.
He took to the ITV airwaves alongside lead presenter Susanna Reid where they introduced a discussion segment on supermarket stealing.
Richard, 67, was the star to introduce the debate on suspected Robin Hood antics, where people would steal from shops in order to provide produce to food banks.
Looking directly at the camera, he explained: “This is an interesting one isn’t it, what do you think?
“Is it in the end justified to steal food from a supermarket and take it to food banks to help people who would otherwise go hungry.”
One viewer reposted the clip onto their X account as they claimed: “You couldn’t make this up: Richard Madeley is literally Britain’s best known shoplifter… but it was bottles of wine for him and Judy.”
And eagle-eyed fans of Good Morning Britain thought they saw the eyes of his co-hist widen, as she couldn’t help but see the irony.
In the comments section below, one viewer commented: “Meanwhile, Suzanne is trying so hard not to break cover and burst into uncontrollable laughter.”
A second watcher couldn’t help but note the irony of the whole entire segment.
They noted: “Such a pity that he wasn’t reminded of that. He’s said previously: “I was just not concentrating. I put the food through the till, I forgot to take the champagne out… I can joke about it now”. Not something I’d be joking about, but each to their own.”
This was as a third user joked: “Love her eyes, disbelief.”
Viewers were of course referring to the unfortunate incident when the This Morning legend Richard was caught shoplifting back in 1994.
He mistakenly took Champagne through the till on his food shop without paying.
The TV presenter was taken to court but was of course cleared of all charges after claiming he’d had a freak memory lapse.
Richard later reflecting on the incident in an interview with the Guardian, where he said: “I put the food through the till, I forgot to take the champagne out.
“I can handle anything, I can juggle eight balls in the air, and actually I came a horrible cropper. I can joke about it now.”
This isn’t the first time this has happened on GMB, when viewers previously laughed about a previous shoplifting segment back in June of 2022.
At the time, he welcomed ex-police detective Peter Bleksley into the studio to discuss on how police could prove that pensioners are pocketing items to survive.
This was after claims by Supermarket bosses that theft levels were “off the charts” as the cost-of-living crisis sparked a boom in “first time” shoplifters.
