'GMB' star Alex Beresford responds after 'fat-fishing' dating story sparks debate

Good Morning Britain’s Alex Beresford has defended himself after his comments about “fat-fishing” sparked a debate online.

The presenter, 39, angered some viewers when he shared a story about meeting up with a woman who looked very different to her dating profile.

He told hosts Ranvir Singh and Sean Fletcher that the woman had only shared a head shot online.

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"When it’s from the shoulders up, obviously alarm bells should start ringing,” he said.

“I turned up for a date, this is probably 15 years ago, and she was a lot different, a lot larger than she looked like in her profile picture."

Singh said Beresford was sounding “really shallow” and he agreed, saying: “It does sound shallow, but I guess that is what you call ‘fat-fishing’.”

Some viewers were unimpressed, taking issue with the woman’s weight coming into it.

One posted a message on Twitter saying the comments were what you would expect from “an immature school kid” and another pointed out that the woman would still be the same person, regardless of her size.

However, others said they saw the star’s point.

Beresford has now tweeted to insist it is reasonable to be miffed if someone misrepresents themselves in that way.

“I think it’s ok to be annoyed if someone misrepresents themselves on their social media platform/dating profile,” he wrote.

“The filters these days can be so misleading and actually point to a bigger problem - the pressure to look ‘out of this world’.”

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Many of the star’s followers agreed with him about misleading images.

“Dishonesty and misleading someone is NEVER ok and certainly NOT fair,” said one person.

“To be honest the online dating is hard in itself without adding fakeness,” said another.

However, one person suggested the TV star could have handled it a little better.

Responding to Beresford’s tweet, the person wrote: “That's true, but you could have worded it better… you didn't come across as a very nice person, though your point was incredibly valid.”