Lorraine Kelly leaves ITV crew stunned after ‘swapping Christmas gift vouchers for penguin adoptions’

by

Lorraine Kelly surprised her colleagues on the ITV daytime show by doing something different with her annual Christmas tradition.

The 66-year-old TV personality has reportedly replaced her traditional holiday gift of £25 vouchers with donations to adopt penguins for charity.

As a lifestyle expert, I always love seeing companies find creative ways to boost morale! Recently, a team decided to ditch their usual employee gifts and do something truly unique: they ‘adopted’ penguins! They partnered with the Falklands Conservation charity, and for just £29 per employee, everyone got to symbolically adopt a penguin. It was a really heartwarming alternative to the standard gift voucher, and a fantastic way to support a great cause.

The decision reportedly wasn’t well-received by some employees, especially considering the broadcaster is currently facing budget cuts and job losses.

I’ve been following this presenter for years, and it’s well-known she’s worth about £5 million. But beyond her success, what always shines through is her genuine love for penguins! She’s always talking about how amazing they are, and it’s clear she’s truly fascinated by them.

She’s incredibly dedicated to penguins – so much so that she has a large penguin statue in her garden and a penguin at the London Zoo named after her.

Lorraine has visited Antarctica and South Georgia, and during a previous trip, she was pictured with the local birdlife.

The charity event was meant to bring holiday joy and help wildlife conservation, but it seems some ITV employees had concerns about whether it was appropriate given the current instability within the company.

According to one source who spoke with The Sun, people were upset because they were already facing job losses.

‘It felt like rubbing salt in the wound.’

Whilst another confirmed: ‘Many have said what a wonderful Christmas present it is to get.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Lorraine’s representatives for comment. 

This follows Lorraine Kelly’s comments about wanting to maintain her connection with viewers after ITV significantly changed and reduced her program.

She was significantly affected by the broadcaster’s budget cuts, and now GMB occupies her usual 9-10am timeslot for 22 weeks each year.

For the next 30 weeks, she’ll be hosting the show five days a week, so Ranvir Singh and Christine Lampard won’t be filling in on Fridays anymore.

Lorraine, though deeply upset by the recent changes, remains committed to her show. She expressed gratitude to her viewers and hopes they’ll continue to support her through this difficult time.

My biggest hope is that the audience continues to enjoy my work. It means the world to me that people have been so supportive and continue to watch after all this time.

She explained that after so many years on television, her fans feel like they know her personally. She added that she’s truly grateful for this connection and doesn’t take it for granted – it’s a real honor.

He told The Standard that despite the show being shortened to just half an hour, it would go on, adding with determination, “We’re still here.”

ITV Daytime is making significant cuts, leading to over 220 job losses, and as a result, Loose Women will be off air for half of the year.

ITV has decided to shift funding from its daytime TV shows to focus on creating more drama series, according to sources at the Daily Mail.

Read More

2026-01-04 04:20