Richard Madeley has insisted he hasn't been 'sacked' from Good Morning Britain after mysteriously disappearing from the ITV show for two weeks.
The presenter had been missing from the programme for a short time, but he finally made his return to the studio this week.
On his first day back, Richard, 66, explained to co-host Susanna Reid, 52, and viewers at home where had had been.
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In fact, he hadn't been sacked, but wound up in a 'freak' accident and had to go for surgery as a result.
"I was either a freak having an accident or I had a freak accident," he joked.
Richard went on to explain how he had been 'crouching down on a slope' between his car and the car's open door, and was 'fiddling around with something at the bottom of the car', when he landed himself in a sticky situation.
He shared: "I turned around as the door decided to close itself. Gravity pulled it shut, it's a big heavy door."
As Susanna pulled a horrified face, Richard continued: "‘It just hit me on the chin and I really bit my tongue, to the extent that I needed an op. I had to have some stitches in it."
When Susanna grimaced and told him 'that's horrible', Richard replied: "It wasn’t pleasant actually. Eating and drinking was difficult."
Intrigued, Susanna asked him: "And you actually had to have an operation to stitch it back together?"
Richard told her: "Two stitches at the top and one at the side, yes."
Pulling a face, Susanna admitted: "I don't know why I'm asking because there's something about tongues."
Richard agreed: "Yes, let's not go into any more detail you don't want to hear. I'm fine now."
The duo wrapped up the gruesome chat with Susanna assuring Richard that, despite the injury, he sounded 'word perfect' now he'd recovered.
"It took two weeks," Richard replied, "I had to cancel two weeks of being on here which is really annoying."
In his absence, Richard had been replaced by Ed Balls, who co-hosted alongside Susanna for the last two weeks, as well as special guest presenters like Kate Garraway and Ranvir Singh.
Upon his return, Richard got right back to business, and it wasn't long before he was tearing into Prince Harry, who live-streamed his online therapy session with trauma therapist Dr Gabor Maté over the weekend.
“I mean, just before we talk about whether or not they’re going to be coming to the coronation," he began, "another headline in all the papers on Saturday, after yet another interview that Harry gave, the big quote from this one was, ‘I’m from a broken family’.
“I have to say when I read it I thought, ‘Are you ever, ever going to stop moaning? Are you ever going to shut up?'"
Well, Richard's definitely got his tongue back.
Topics: ITV, Good Morning Britain, Celebrity
Ali Condon