This Morning’s new host Ben Shephard has thanked well-wishers for the “lovely messages” he’s received following his first week on the ITV show alongside Cat Deeley.

The duo presented their first show together on Monday as they officially took over from former hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield who both left the morning programme last year.

To mark the new chapter, Shephard shared a selection of photos to social media of him chatting and laughing with Deeley while presenting the show.

Musicians Sir Rod Stewart and Jools Holland were among the first celebrity guests to join them on the sofa and featured in one of the pictures.

Alongside the post, he said he had been looking at images and noticed he and Deeley had done “a lot of laughing and of course had some delicious food”.

“I’m now fasting over the weekend to make room for more next week!!”, he added.

“Thank you for all your lovely messages. See you Monday I hope!”

Deeley commented on the post saying the first week was “so fun” and that while he fasted she was trying out a steak recipe inspired by chef Donal Skehan who had been on the show during the week.

Shephard’s former Good Morning Britain co-star Susanna Reid was among those to offer their congratulations as she wrote: “Fabulous week – well done you & @catdeeley.”

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The previous day, Deeley had thanked the team at This Morning for an “incredible first week” and praised Shephard for being the “perfect co-pilot on this already joyous new journey”.

She shared the comments alongside a grid of photos of her and Shephard presenting together.

Last year, This Morning saw a rotation of presenters on the famous sofa, including Deeley who hosted alongside Rylan Clark in November.