Katie Piper freaks out and trips over after alpacas randomly enter the Loose Women studio

Chaos was nearly on the cards when a pair of alpacas spooked Katie Piper on Loose Women.

The 39-year-old activist was hosting Wednesday’s episode of the ITV daytime series, along with the likes of Christine Lampard, 43, when they were joined by some furry friends.

Inspired by Dame Kelly Holmes, 52, who lives in the heart of the Kent countryside with her pet alpacas, two of the South American mammals were brought into the studio.

The panelists spoke to the owners of Eduardo and Elite about the benefits of having animals to improve mental health, with Christmas revealing bonding with alpacas can be beneficial for people with dementia.

However, while the adorable creatures were undoubtedly very well-behaved as they made their TV debut, snuggling up to one another, Katie was a little jumpy.

As they huddled around Eduardo and Elite, Katie very suddenly turned around and tried to make a quick exit – but tripped up in the process.

She revealed she had tried to scarper as she feared one of the alpacas was ‘trying to kick her’, although she was reassured that wasn’t the case and she was perfectly safe.

Kelly has previously spoken about the virtues of owning alpacas and frequently features her pets on her Instagram page, to the delight of her followers.

She told The Guardian: ‘I’ve had them for 11 years now. I got them to cut the grass and they’re brilliant mowers.

‘Then lockdown came and so many people were so stressed and I was videoing the alpacas because they’re just strange animals really and I thought: “If this is making people smile, brilliant.”’

Elite and Eduardo weren’t the only animals to make a splash on Tuesday’s daytime TV, with the ‘UK’s naughtiest duck’ appearing on This Morning.

Mischievous Ham, a four-year-old Indian Runner Duck, even took a sip from host Holly Willoughby’s cup of tea as the bird nearly ran amok in the studio.

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV.

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