Naga Munchetty has 'immense respect' for GMB's Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid

Although Good Morning Britain (GMB) and BBC Breakfast are long-standing early morning TV rivals, the BBC’s Naga Munchetty has a great deal of respect for the presenters of the ITV show.

While Piers Morgan may be quick to compare GMB against the BBC programme in terms of interviewing style and ratings, Munchetty welcomes the competition.

The 45-year-old told The Guardian: “I think competition is a great thing. I have immense respect for Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan.

Read more: Dan Walker apologises to Susanna Reid for 'misreading her intentions'

"How much attention do I pay to it? If you are on Twitter, or you read the papers, there is usually a story or something generated from GMB. Noise, and an alternative, is a good thing.”

Morgan, 55, can often be seen exchanging barbs with Munchetty's BBC Breakfast co-host Dan Walker.

Most recently, the GMB host was keen to make a point about ratings via Twitter after Wednesday saw BBC Breakfast's executive editor Richard Frediani tweet that the show's audience share was the highest it had been for 10 years at 41%.

"More than 11-million viewers watching every week making #BBCBreakfast the No.1 show," he wrote.

However, Morgan quote tweeted the message to claim that GMB had it's "highest ever audience shares" over the past two days, and that the gap between the programmes was now "the closest ever".

He added: "Thanks for switching everyone! cc @mrdanwalker."

Meanwhile, Munchetty said of the BBC's response: “I think it’s shown just how valuable a resource the BBC is – we’ve seen that in our viewing figures. We’ve seen it on Breakfast, but all news outlets would have seen a spike because people are more engaged.”

Morgan has made headlines throughout the coronavirus pandemic through his quizzing of ministers and questioning on how the issue has been handled.

The Life Stories host was recently tested for COVID-19 himself, with a negative result.