Ed Balls came back to Good Morning Britain on September 1 looking different enough to stop the show in its tracks: a goatee, a fresh on-air look, and an immediate reaction from Susanna Reid. She had already told viewers in July that she would be off air for several weeks, then wrote on Instagram that she and Balls would be back on September 1 after their travels.
Susanna Reid on Instagram
The return followed a simple scheduling pattern that viewers of the weekday breakfast programme know well. Good Morning Britain airs at 6am on ITV1 and ITVX, so a change in a presenter’s appearance lands fast, before the hour is out and while the live audience is still settling in.
Reid did not ease into it. She said, "Who are you and what have you done with Ed Balls?" and described him as "completely different" when he appeared on the programme. Balls answered with a blunt reset of his own: "the same me."
Alex Beresford Joins In
Alex Beresford added to the on-air chatter by saying he loved Balls’ "whole new look". That kind of instant reaction matters on a live breakfast show because the visual change becomes part of the segment before the day’s heavier news takes over, and the exchange can quickly become the talking point viewers remember.
A WhatsApp poll was launched so fans could share their thoughts on the goatee, turning the appearance into an audience prompt rather than a throwaway aside. The setup gave the programme a live feedback loop: the presenters reacted in real time, and viewers were asked to weigh in while the broadcast was still unfolding.
Viewers and the goatee
The response was not all admiration. Some viewers were not impressed by the repeated discussion of Balls’ new look during the live programme, which shifted the story from a simple return after a summer break into a small on-air dispute over how much attention the goatee deserved.
That leaves the only question that actually matters to regular viewers today: whether Balls keeps the goatee. The show gave the look airtime, the presenters made it a segment, and the audience was invited into the verdict — but the face he wants to wear tomorrow is still his call.
