The photo certainly got Bella plenty of publicity and offered the show a lot to talk about, but Mike was clearly not impressed. And with Bella there in the studio, things got pretty direct.
‘You invited me to an event, we take one photo together and suddenly everyone’s talking about whether we are together,’ Mike angrily noted. ‘Not sure I was a fan of that frankly. Frankly, that’s inaccurate and you knew it.’
Ouch.
The on-air team tried to defuse the unpleasant scene with the standard breakfast show tactic of explosive laughter, trying to imply the moment was all was a big joke and not an increasingly tense and awkward confrontation. But Mike wasn’t letting that fly.
‘You’ll have to explain to me how that’s funny, but that’s alright,’ he snapped.
Attempting to move things along, the hosts then asked Mike if he was still with Heidi.
‘You know I can’t answer that,’ he tersely replied. ‘You can see I’m not in the mood for this, this morning.’
Confessing he is smarting from the social media savaging he has endured since last night’s episode, Mike was taking no prisoners – blasting the media and public for the way he’s been treated.
‘I’m involved in a relationship with someone now,’ he said, again harking back to the team’s suggestion that he and Bella were an item. ‘How is that going to benefit my relationship with Heidi?’
With the breakfast team issuing an apology, Mike was invited back on the show again. Now only time will tell if he takes them up on the offer.