Alison Hammond responds to the backlash to “For the Love of Dogs”

Alison Hammond has responded to the public backlash over her new role as presenter of the ITV documentary series For the Love of Dogs.

The This Morning presenter took over from the late Paul O’Grady as host of the long-running series, which was filmed at the Battersea Dogs and Cats house and returns for its twelfth series tonight (April 16).

In an interview with The Sun’s TV Mag, Alison shared her reaction to cruel comments about her new role online.

Related: Alison Hammond hosts new BBC show

“I was really surprised at how much I got for the show,” she said. “I could understand it because Paul was so popular and people said, ‘How can she do Love Of Dogs if she doesn’t have a dog? How can she love dogs if she doesn’t have a dog?’

“It’s like saying, ‘How can you love children when you don’t have any?'” she added.

Alison called these comments “flawed reasoning” and had a clear message for critics.

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“If you don’t want to see it, don’t watch it,” she continued. “That’s what I would say to those trolls: ‘Then don’t watch it. If you don’t want to help Battersea, don’t watch it.'”

“Trolls are trolls and I’m going to keep doing what I do best, which is hosting TV. You’ll see for yourself, I think it’s authentic and I enjoyed it,” she said of the show.

“Trolls are trolls, that actually says more about them than it does about me. I would never troll anyone even if I thought it. I wouldn’t go online and write it down.”

It’s the second time this year that Alison has hit back at trolls, with the Bake-Off host publicly responding to an online post tagging her last month.

Alison took the opportunity to remind people to “always be #kind” in her response.

For the Love of Dogs returns with a new season on April 16 on ITV1 and ITVX.

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