CAT Deeley was reportedly ordered to apologise to This Morning viewers after being slammed for her 'offensive' comment.
Presenter Cat, 47, asked show fans for forgiveness on Tuesday following her controversial joke about epilepsy.
During the previous day's installment, Cat had been seen dancing and shimmying to the Meghan Trainor song All About That Bass, prompting Ben to laugh at her.
She then declared: "Nothing to see here. Yeah, I'm fine, just having a seizure."
The flippant remark sparked outrage from viewers who either suffer from seizures themselves, or have loved ones who have them.
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Epilepsy is a condition of the brain which can disrupt the electrical communication between neurons in the nervous system.
This often leads to seizures, a sudden event that can change a person’s awareness, behaviour or feeling.
The condition is typically diagnosed when a person has two or more unprovoked fits separated by at least 24 hours.
Epilepsy can begin at any age, but it tends to affect people either in early childhood or who are older than 60.
It's now been claimed show bosses demanded she said sorry on-air, in order to prevent a fresh row from brewing.
A show insider told MailOnline: "This Morning are so worried about offending anybody they asked Cat to apologise, hoping that would be the end of the matter.
"It's not something she suggested, but understood the decision.
"The show is desperate to avoid any controversy after what's happened over the past two years.
"But there is a feeling behind the scenes the apology wasn't overly necessary."
The telly host admitted she understood why her comment on the show was inappropriate as Ben Shephard agreed with her.
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She said: “I really wanted to apologise to anyone I offended yesterday when I made a light hearted joke about my dancing style.
"It was really wasn’t meant to cause any upset to anybody but I can see why that might have been the case, so I do apologise. I am very sorry."
Ben chimed in: "That would never be our intention."
And Cat added: "It didn’t come from that place at all."
The Epilepsy Society also spoke out to slam the moment.
They wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "Seizures are no laughing matter for people with #epilepsy @catdeeley.
"Please do better and educated yourselves about this difficult and poorly understood condition, @thismorning."
Fans also wrote of their disgust, with one tweeting: "This is heartbreaking to see do know there are many types of seizures and to see you mocking people who have them is very upsetting."
Someone else added: "I have nearly lost my child a few times to seizures and is extremely poorly.
A third chimed in with: "Maybe you should do a story on epilepsy to see what goes on."
The Sun has contacted ITV and Cat's representatives for comment.
The upset comes after it was revealed ITV's mid-morning show's viewing figures had almost halved in two months.
Just over a million saw new hosts Cat and Ben's first day in mid-March.
But by the same point in May the peak fell to 589,000 - with an average of 486,000 tuning in to the ITV show.
In comparison, BBC1 rival Morning Live had solid figures between one million to 1.4million.
Previously fronted by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, it appears to have fallen into chaos over the past few years.
In May last year, things started to turn sour for the show when Phillip quit after it was revealed he'd been lying about having an affair with a younger member of the production staff.
Holly followed him out the door months later after she was targeted by a man who had plans to kidnap and murder her.
The duo worked together on the show for 14 years and audiences loved their chemistry and genuine friendship.
