Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid poured a smoothie over her head while live on air after failing to complete a challenge in chaotic scenes on Monday's show. The TV presenter, 55, and co-host Ed Balls, 59, took part in a fun task while highlighting a worthwhile cause as they tackled the Smoothie Challenge, devised by Made In Chelsea's Sam Vanderpump, 29.
Sam appeared on Monday's (May 18) episode of the ITV show to discuss the challenge, which is intended to promote organ donation as he battles end-stage liver disease. It saw Susanna and Ed attempt to completely down a smoothie in just nine seconds, or otherwise have to dump it on their heads.
Although Ed managed to complete his in the allotted time, Susanna was not quite as lucky. Ed joked: 'Excuse me, I'm about to be really, really sick.' Knowing what was expected of her, Susanna promptly raised the glass to her head and dropped the smoothie over herself.
Sam explained nine seconds had been selected as it represents how nine lives can be saved when one person registers to become an organ donor. One viewer wrote online: 'What a good sport Susanna is!' Another commented: 'Dunno how Susanna stopped herself splashing Ed's lovely clean shirt!' A third remarked: 'Such a good cause, well done Susanna!'
In last Monday's episode of Made In Chelsea, Sam opened up about his reasons for creating the challenge. Asked about his health, he told Ollie Locke, Freddy Knatchbull and Angus Findlay: 'The doctors have really been promoting us to look at live donation, because then it avoids me becoming sick. This is whereby someone who's alive offers to donate half of their liver, donate it to me. It re-grows to full in me and their liver re-grows to full as well. I'm now considering it.'
Sam continued: 'The reason why we're even considering this is because there's not enough livers being donated. Off the back of this, I'm really, really keen to do some kind of challenge on social media like ALS Ice Bucket challenge. So, the idea is we have a pink smoothie which you make and the reason for pink is because pink represents organ donation in the UK. And you have to down the smoothie in nine seconds because you can save up to nine lives. And if you don't down in those nine seconds, you have to pour over your head. Then you register to donate online and nominate nine more people.'
Sam fought back tears as his doctor told him his battle with end-stage liver disease is set to worsen in an emotional new documentary. The reality let cameras follow him on his journey towards a life-saving liver transplant, while becoming a husband and father, in E4 series Made In Chelsea: Sam Vanderpump's Story.
The first episode, which aired on April 28, showed Sam and his family as they visited the doctor to get the latest on the TV personality's worsening condition. He became seriously ill with flu in late 2024, developing sepsis and suffering liver and kidney failure - and was later diagnosed with irreversible end-stage liver disease, putting him on the transplant waiting list.
While Sam was born with two rare conditions, congenital hepatic fibrosis of the liver and polycystic kidney disease, it wasn't until his illness battle that they caused serious complications when his organs began to shut down. The new dad, who welcomed first child Marmaduke with wife Alice Yaxley, 24, in February, has been given a life expectancy of just four to five years without a transplant.
In the first episode of the documentary, viewers watched on during the emotional moment Sam was told that his condition was set to get worse. The doctor told Sam that his liver looked enlarged and had large amounts of bile building up due to the health abnormality that he already had before falling unwell.
Sam told the cameras: 'So congenital hepatic fibrosis, the way I would explain it in layman's terms would be a normal liver is a smooth filter which filters people's bloods. My liver isn't smooth. It's quite bumpy and the fibrosis and it's got a cyst in it and essentially struggling to filter the blood. And that disease has progressed over 28 years, which has obviously led to the inevitable.'
Sam was then told by the doctor: 'You've obviously known this diagnosis for a long time. You've had three episodes when you've been hospitalised with cholangitis (a bacterial infection of the bile duct system). Those are serious complications because some of those infections can really push you from looking like you do now, where I wouldn't necessarily know you have an end-stage liver disease, to being in hospital with organ failure. We're not talking about if you will need a transplant, we're talking about when you will need a transplant.'
Sam looked to be struggling to hold back his emotions as the doctor concluded: 'This is not going to get better, it's going to get worse.' Discussions then turned to Sam's options - which saw his mum, Simone, offer to give a portion of her liver in a 'live donation', which would then regenerate into a full liver inside Sam's body.
'No, I don't want to do that,' Sam could be seen saying as he became glassy eyed during the appointment, adding: 'In the politest way possible, shut up, mum. Yes I can get a transplant, but both roads are horrific. One road is a go on the waiting list, and I have to probably get ill to go up the list so I can get a donation form a deceased donor, or I have to be willing to accept an organ from a loved one.'
He later told Alice: 'I don't know what to say, I don't know what I expected. I think I've gone into information overload. It makes me feel sick, I don't want to put my friends or family through a liver surgery as well. Could you imagine, I go in for a liver transplant, and I wake up and my friend or family member has died on the table? I don't want to live with that.'
Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 and ITVX.
