Gethin Jones sat out on the first Morning Live show of the week – but he had a special reason for doing so. Viewers tuning into the BBC flagship show on Monday, February 12 were shocked to see that usual Monday host Gethin was replaced by Rav Wilding and Michelle Ackerley.

A quick look at the Morning Live social media channels would confirm the reason why Gethin was a no show – it was his birthday. Sharing a photo of the Cardiff-born presenter, the post’s caption read: “Happy birthday to our Morning Live maestro @GethincJones! Leave your birthday best wishes for him in the comments…”

Fans of Gethin and Morning Live quickly flocked to the comments section to wish him happy birthday. “Happy Birthday Gethin! All the best people are born in February. Hope you have a wonderful day,” one person wrote on X.

READ MORE: ITV Coronation Street's Antony Cotton 'excited' as co-star returns to cobbles

READ MORE: Antiques Roadshow man says he'll never sell item and will be buried with it

A second said: “Happy birthday Gethin! Thanks for making mornings fun!” And a third commented: “Have a fab day.”

The former Blue Peter presenter is celebrating his 46th birthday and has recently been out celebrating the Six Nations with pal, ex-Welsh international, Jamie Roberts. More on that, here. Earlier this year he confessed on the BBC morning show that his dating apps were "crammed" with matches after a friend signed him up to a dating service. Candidly opening up about his own experience of dating apps, Gethin then shared: "Well my friend put me on a dating app last year, I wasn't really sure about it, but I have to say, this week there's been like quite a few..."

"Has your inbox been crammed?" Michelle then interjected. "Yes," Gethin admitted, before adding: "New year looking for love, I think that's the idea."

"Oh it's so exciting," Michelle then said. Trying to move on to the segment, Gethin continued: "The thing is though, a lot of people do go on there looking for love...," before beginning to smirk and adding to Michelle: "Thanks for bringing that up."

Last week Gethin was joined by Strictly: It Takes Two presenter Janette Manrara on Morning Live. During their episode together Gethin made a plea as Janette sent husband Aljaž a Valentine's Day 'warning'. You can read more about that here.

Gethin has hosted Morning Live since it began in October 2020. Earlier this year the show’s run-time was extended from 45 minutes to 75 minutes.

Morning Live airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter.