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down on the farm
‘I got slapped by a lemur’ reveals co-host of ITV’s chaotic new breakfast show set to rival Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch
Watch a first-look at behind the scenes of the programme with guests Dick and Dom above
THEY say you should never work with animals and children but the rulebook has been well and truly thrown out of the window by ITV's newest breakfast show.
The channel is launching an epic new programme to wake viewers up on a Sunday morning and will be introducing a pair of fresh faces to viewers screen's to match.
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Farmer and TV star Jimmy Doherty, known for his close friendship and former partnership with Jamie Oliver, will be working alongside former MasterChef star Shivi Ramoutar on their brand new show, Jimmy and Shivi's Farmhouse Breakfast.
The duo's new partnership will see them across homes every Sunday morning this summer live from Jimmy's home farm which is estimated to be twice the size of London Zoo.
Although branded on-screen as a farm, Jimmy and his family have a huge variety of animals as part of their wildlife centre.
Jimmy admitted he and the team care for "crocodiles, camels, polar bears, brown bears, wolves" as well as the more typical pigs and cattle as well as even having hedgehogs.
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But for city girl Shivi, she was left having quite the shock during her first few days of filming after an unexpected 'attack' in one of the lemur enclosures.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, the TV star admitted she had been "slapped" by one of the creatures during a hilariously chaotic moment.
Shivi told us: "As a city girl, I rarely get that interaction with these incredible creatures.
"I had a wonderful time because I was able to go into the go into the lemur pen.
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"I got slapped by a lemur, but I mean..."
Quick to clarify it was nothing but a mishap, Shivi went on to confess she did have a slight apprehension to filming segments with the lemur's as a result of their nature.
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Shivi added: "Yeah, well, the lemurs initially [I was scared of], you know.
The lemurs, I was so scared actually from the outside because they just, you know, they move very erratically.
"Overall, that freaked me out a little bit."
Another unfortunate incident saw a Cow attempt to rip Shivi's shirt off during a chaotic visit to a dairy farm in Suffolk.
Not only were the lemur's happy slapping and tearaway cows, Jimmy also went on to admit that a rather cheeky monkey destroyed a GoPro camera on set within five seconds despite the team taking half an hour to set it up to capture some shots.
The star said: "So for our monkeys, we did this lovely little story of hide and seek where we like to hide all their food around.
"We thought it would be quite clever and put GoPros up so we could capture them finding the food.
"All they did was went straight to the GoPro and got it out the case.
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"Well, the cameraman took about half an hour to put it in the case. He couldn't work it out. And it took a monkey about five seconds to get it out.
"But we got some brilliant shots."
Jimmy and Shivi's new show, which features a whole variety of guests including drag queens and Virgin Radio hosts Dick and Dom, will become Channel 4 stalwart Sunday Brunch's newest competition.
But do the pair think they can match the success of their ten-plus year rivals?
"I mean I think what's great about that is that people can dive in and out," Jimmy said.
"Tim [Lovejoy], he's a lovely guy and it's a great show but I think this is again something completely different.
"You you won't get polar bears on Sunday Brunch!"
The programme marks a brave move from ITV amid current ratings woes with the once-formidable This Morning.
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It is hoped that Farmhouse Breakfast can work it's way up to becoming a staple of Sunday morning viewing.
With that being said, do Jimmy and Shivi see themselves as being TV's next biggest presenting double act?
Jimmy told us: "It's been amazing. I think we bat off each other really well.
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"But who knows, who knows? I mean, I think it'll be really interesting what the general public think about this, because I think it is something that isn't on the line up in the morning at the moment."
Jimmy and Shivi's Farmhouse Breakfast launches on ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday June 30.
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