Dermot O’Leary left his This Morning co-host Cat Deeley gobsmacked as he made a surprising revelation about his real name at the start of Tuesday’s show

This Morning’s Cat Deeley speechless as Dermot O’Leary reveals real name (Image: ITV)

During Tuesday’s episode of This Morning, Dermot O’Leary surprised viewers by revealing his real name isn’t actually Dermot. As the show began, co-host Cat Deeley asked if he had a middle name.

A visibly shocked Cat replied: “Your first name is Sean? How did I not know that?!”

Dermot then jokingly thanked his parents before explaining that it’s common for those with Irish heritage to be named one thing but called another.

Cat was clearly taken aback as Dermot asked if her husband’s first name was Patrick, which she shared it was. The This Morning star then went on to explain why he has two names.

Dermot said: “Okay, well, normally, if you’re born in Ireland or if you have Irish parents, they name you something, and then they call you something totally different.

“So, I am Sean Dermot, but I’ve only ever been called Dermot. But I’m officially Sean Dermot.”

The This Morning host went on to share how this has often led to confusion, recalling an incident at the Irish passport office where they had only looked at his picture and not checked his proper name, reports the Mirror.

He added: “Once, I went into the Irish passport office. Pre-Brexit, the Irish passport office was quite chilled, so they were like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re here, we’ve got your passport. ‘I looked down, and it said Dermot. They went, ‘Yeah, you are Dermot?’. I said yeah but I’m also Sean Dermot, look at the old passport.

This Morning’s Cat Deeley speechless as Dermot O’Leary reveals real name (Image: ITV)

“So, now I’m both Dermot and Sean Dermot, which, as you can imagine, for legal reasons, is quite confusing!”

The revelation of Dermot O’Leary’s real first name, Sean, certainly had Twitter abuzz, with many taking to social media to share their thoughts.

One person wrote: “I’m sorry! Dermot O’Leary’s real name is Sean! How are we only just learning this?”

Someone else added: “Plot twist: Dermot O’Leary is actually named Sean.”

While a third commented: “So where did the name Dermot come from?”

Meanwhile, Dermot is gracing the This Morning set beside Cat Deeley while usual co-host Ben Shephard is absent.

Amid rumours that Ben was joining I’m A Celebrity, he cleared the air through a videolink appearance on ITV saying, ” I am taking a few weeks away to take some time to do a project for ITV.”

Ben at present is in New Zealand working on a forthcoming ITV competition that promises an adrenaline rush, with a tantalising prize pot of £200,000 up for grabs.