Holly Willoughby could not hide her shock as a snake wrapped itself around her leg during a live broadcast of This Morning.

The presenter and co-star Phillip Schofield had a large snake draped across their shoulders during the ITV programme’s episode on Monday.

But as Schofield started to announce the end of the segment, Willoughby suddenly appeared slightly bewildered and drew attention to the slippery reptile, which had edged itself lower and wrapped its tail around her knee.

She laughed but appeared stunned as she said: “Hang on a second, look what’s going on!”

Schofield laughed as Willoughby dipped lower in an attempt to free herself from the snake.

“Good lord, good gracious, well I never!” he said.

She squealed: “What do I do? What do I do?”

Schofield advised her to “let it happen” as she continued to hold the snake on her shoulders while ducking lower, her voice reaching a higher pitch as she squealed in protest.

This Morning
Holly Willoughby (ITV’s This Morning)

A member of the team then came over to unfurl the snake from around Willoughby’s leg, but she and Schofield continued to hold it across their shoulders.

She said it “made me panic a bit” before handing the creature back over to its carers.

Willoughby said: “We were being so cool with it.”

Schofield quipped that he was, before she retorted: “It didn’t wrap around your leg!”

Shortly afterwards, the programme hit a technical glitch and was off the air for more than 10 minutes.

During the blackout, an apology appeared on the screen and the programme’s Twitter account shared an additional message.

It read: “We’re sorry if you can’t see us on your television right now. We’re working on the problem and we’ll be back with you as soon as possible! #ThisMorning.”

Schofield tweeted: “That was fun!! Broadcasting just for ourselves for 15 mins … all back now!”

This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.