This Morning's Ben Shephard sparks outrage with 'insensitive' question to girl who had arm and leg eaten by a shark - and dreams of becoming a professional golfer

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This Morning's Ben Shephard has sparked outrage with an 'insensitive' question to a girl who had one arm and one leg eaten by a shark in a horrifying attack. 

Lulu Gribbin and her twin sister Ellie took to the ITV show to open up about the terrifying moment a bull shark attacked on a Florida beach where the family were holidaying in 2024. 

The teen, from Alabama, spoke to Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley on the ITV show via a live video link, explaining the attack in graphic detail - including the moment she noticed her hand and leg had been bitten off. 

Nonetheless, that hasn't stopped Lulu, 15, from dreaming big about a sporting career - having taken up golf during her recovery.

Revealing her hopes to become a professional athlete, including playing golf at a higher level, fans of This Morning were left in shock when Ben, 51, asked Lulu whether she 'had a handicap'.

The golfing term refers to players having a numerical measure of their playing ability that indicates to other golfers your skill level to help fair competition.

This Morning's Ben Shephard sparked outrage with an 'insensitive' question to a girl who had one arm and one leg eaten by a SHARK in a horrifying attack

Lulu Gribbin and her twin sister Ellie took to the ITV show to open up about the terrifying moment a bull shark attacked on a Florida beach where the family were holidaying in 2024.

However, viewers were left outraged at Ben's choice of words after Lulu opened up about having two prosthetic limbs following the attack. 

Speaking about her love of golf, the teen revealed: 'I play lots of golf, I run, I waterski but I do enjoy playing golf the most because it's been something I can turn to and it's adaptable and I'm even playing in my first tournament coming up.'

'Wow, have you got a handicap?' Ben asked, to which Lulu continued: 'Not yet, but we're working on it. I think the Paralympics is a big dream of mine. 

'When I was in the hospital, it was something that was on the TV 24/7 - so I was just watching it all the time, and it's inspired me to want to compete. 

'I don't know what sport yet but I'm open to trying out all of them!'  

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one viewer furiously hit out: 'Ben. What a question to ask someone who survived a shark attack and lost limbs.'

'The only thing is Ben Shephard's insensitive idiotic questions,' a second penned, as a third chimed in: 'Have you got a handicap? To a girl with no leg and one arm...'

'Have you got a handicap? Has he not been paying attention?' a fourth wrote, as a fifth said: 'Have you got a handicap? Bloody hell, Ben.'

Lulu (right), from Alabama, spoke to Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley on the ITV show via a live video link, explaining the attack in graphic detail - including the moment she noticed her hand and leg had been bitten off

This Morning viewers took to X, formerly Twitter, to hit out at Ben's question

'Ben: Have you got a handicap? She's got no leg, mate,' someone else added. 

Other fans noted how the young guest breezed over the question, with one writing: 'She took it the way it was intended, he didn't mean anything by it.'

But another fan hit out again: 'I get that but it was still clumsy.'

Dozens of viewers also flooded X to compliment Lulu on her 'positive' attitude, despite the traumatic attack that saw her recovering in hospital for 77 days. 

One viewer praised: 'Impressive she can still play, she's probably a better golfer than me,' as another added: 'So lovely and so admirable, she hasn't let this hold her back.'

'She's so lovely and so polite, it makes a refreshing change.'  

During the chat, Lulu recalled the moment she realised her limbs were missing after she was bitten by what was thought to be a bull shark on a Florida beach. 

She recalled: 'We were on a mother-daughter beach trip with all of our friends, and we were riding the waves and I remember turning around and hearing my best friend scream, "shark!".

Viewers were left outraged at Ben's choice of words after Lulu opened up about having two prosthetic limbs following the attack

Lulu has been learning to play golf since recovering from the horror attack

'We were all just in shock and had no idea what was going to happen... I never assumed that anything bad was going to happen, but I did see, when my best friend yelled, I saw a glimpse of its body.

'I could only see a shadow, I never saw distinct features like fins or a tail, but I just remember seeing a big shadow in the water and we started swimming for our lives. 

'We were about waist deep in the water, not too far out... I do remember most of the accident - we were all swimming and I yelled to stay calm. I decided to stay calm. 

'I was the one that stopped swimming first, I was closest to the shark, and I remember standing up in the water, raising my arm out the water, and I looked down at my hand and the shark had bit it off to where there was just flesh and bone. 

'I couldn't feel the shark bite because I was in so much shock, but it was crazy to look down and see that there was no hand there.'

The attack saw Lulu lose two-thirds of her blood – in the sea, it spread out to cover an area the size of a swimming pool - and her life was saved by another beach goer.

She recalled how he 'punched' the shark away from her and stopped it from attacking her further, adding: 'He was running towards me to help me. 

Lulu spent 77 days in recovery after the shark attack

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'He punched the shark off of my leg with his bare hands, and he punched its eyes to stop it from biting my leg - I am so grateful for him.'  

Lulu spent 77 days in hospital, undergoing surgery and rehab, including having two prosthetic limbs fitted. 

'I was grateful for what I still had, I still had one working hand, one working leg and a working brain, and I focused my recovery on the little things,' Lulu said.

'I walked out of the hospital on the 77th day, it was the best memory ever as it seemed like something that could not be achieved but I was stubborn, I was determined to walk out.' 

Lulu and her sister Ellie are now campaigning for a new US law to be put in place, which sends out a text alert to beach goers when a shark sighting happens. 

She concluded: 'Lulu's law, we have an amber alert system in America when a child is abducted in sends alerts to phones, and in the same way, if there's a shark in the water, the beach goers get an alert.' 

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX