Ben Shephard left certain Tipping Point viewers scratching their heads during Wednesday’s trip to the ITV studios, when his accent faltered on the show.
The presenter, 46, is originally from the Essex town of Epping, meaning he normally speaks with a wholeheartedly British accent.
However, for a question about continental booze, he suddenly adopted an Italian twang, surprising his fans at home.
It all kicked off in the second round when contestant Sally stepped up to take on a quickfire round of questions.
One of the queries regarded the liquor Limoncello, which is pale yellow in colour and made using the juice of fresh lemons.
Ben quizzed contestant Sally on the origins of an Italian liquor (Image: ITV)
Mainly produced in Southern Italy, the boozy beverage is a popular Italian export.
Ben wanted to know where the drink came from, hinting at its origins with his doctored accent.
Watching the show, viewers were baffled when they realised Ben was doing an Italian accent, helping Sally to come up with the answer.
One Twitter user said: “Why did ben do a Italian accent when saying Lemonchelo?”
“Save the accent, Ben,” added a second.
Sally failed to correctly answer the question and was eventually sent home (Image: ITV)
And a third joked: “Limoncelllllllllo I am-a Ben tutti frutti abbondanza ciao Bella #TippingPoint.”
In the minutes that followed it was “ciao” for Sally, who lost out to her rivals Jonathan and Jaspinder.
Despite Ben’s accent clue, Sally was none the wiser to the origins of Limoncello and got the question wrong, leaving her with just three counters to play with.
She enjoyed even worse luck when it came to dropping the counters in the drop zone, and failed to earn enough to make it through to the third round.
Bidding her farewell, Ben announced her exit, before adding it had been an “absolute pleasure” to have her on the team.
Having returned to his usual accent, he exclaimed: “It’s been lovely to meet you!”
Tipping Point airs on weekdays at 4pm on ITV.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
