Ed Balls fell reduced into tears during an emotional Good Morning Britain discussion with Gareth Gates.
The politician, 56, led Wednesday morning’s show alongside Susanna Reid, which previously had a weird swimsuit confession.
However, things took a considerably more serious turn when Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins actor Gareth revealed up about his stutter.
The 39-year-old finished the tough course, beating the likes of Matt Hancock, while also utilising the chance to raise awareness about his stutter, which he’s had since childhood.
‘My speech is massively effected if I’m tired, under pressure, or stressed,’ Gareth told Ed and Susanna.
‘It’s a very hostile environment, that’s the nature of the show, to push you to your limits.
‘As a result of all that, it was hard. They try to break you down to build you back up, and as a result of that I’m much more confident now and I got a lot out of the show.’
Ed replied: ‘For me, to meet you and talk to you is such an honour, because you were a huge role model to me when I wasn’t talking publicly about my stammer, I was a cabinet minsiter.
‘You were out there, having a stammer and also showing you could be at the top of your game being a star, and you gave me confidence.’
He went on: ‘For very many children or their parents watching this programme, the things we say to them about what you can do in your life, you can be an SAS winner, a top singer, a presenter of breakfast television and read the autocue with a stammer.
‘It’s amazing, and you inspire people.’
Gareth added: ‘I think one of my greatest achievements from Pop Idol and now SAS was I’ve proved to people you can have an affliction and don’t let it dictate who you are.
‘You’re able to achieve whatever you want in life, you just have to be strong.’
‘Your stammer is part of you, you wouldn’t be Gareth Gates without it,’ Ed replied.
As he spoke about how much of an honour it was meeting Gareth, Ed then broke down into tears, saying: ‘I couldn’t have done what I’ve done in life without the stammer.
‘I would almost choose to have it because it’s made me, that’s a really important thing to say to people.’
He continued: ‘You inspired me, you really did. I thought if Gareth Gates can do this, I can too.
‘If he can be public, I can be too. It was really hard but I did it because you showed me how to do it.’
‘Thank you for saying that it means a lot,’ Gareth replied, before hugging Ed over the emotional moment.
Ed then tearfully thanked Gareth for ‘breaking the ground’ for him, before the singer then said Ed was a ‘role model’ for him too.
Ed has previously discussed his stutter, claiming that he didn’t notice he had one until he was ‘already in the Cabinet’ and speaking publicly all the time.
‘I spent two or three years trying to find out what it was and trying to work out how to handle the fact that sometimes my speeches dried up in TV interviews and in the House of Commons,’ he previously told The Independent.
‘It got worse when I became a Cabinet minister. We went off to investigate and was told it was an interiorised stammer.’
Ed, on the other hand, feels that his stutter has made him stronger.
‘The reality is that lots of things I’ve done since, like Strictly, have been much easier to do after dealing with a stammer,’ he went on.
‘It’s given me the confidence to do many difficult and fabulous things since. If I was choosing again, I’d choose a stammer.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
