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Littler Britton Fern is back in a bikini as she hits the beach five stone lighter
Updated 09:43am on 18 Aug 2008
She strides confidently down the beach in her bikini, displaying a trim tummy and toned thighs.
Fern Britton, pictured in Cornwall last week, must be feeling that all the fuss over her figure was worth it.
The TV presenter endured widespread criticism after it emerged that she had gastric band surgery.
Before and after: On the left is Fern at a beach back in 2005 and on the right the TV presenter, now five stone lighter and a size 16, on the beach in Cornwall last week
She had, after all, neglected to mention it when congratulated on her dramatic weight loss.
Some viewers felt they had been misled, and Miss Britton, 51, missed four editions of This Morning with 'nervous exhaustion' at the height of the affair.
But despite the fuss - and rumours that she had her pay frozen over the issue - the operation was an undeniable success.
Summer fun: Fern enjoys the beach in Cornwall
On the beach with her TV chef husband Phil Vickery, she cut a very different figure than she did when photographed in a similar bikini three years ago.
The mother of four even tried some energetic bodysurfing while wearing a wetsuit.
Miss Britton has dropped from a size 22 to a size 16, shedding five stone. She initially said: 'It's taken me two years and a lot of hard work.'
But in May she admitted having had the surgery around two years ago, saying that she was very pleased with the results.
Familiar face: Fern missed four editions of This Morning with 'nervous exhaustion' at the height of the gastric band controversy
Broadcasting chiefs were already at odds with Miss Britton over her planned clothes range.
Since then she has signed a £700,000-a-year deal to stay on at This Morning - the same amount as her previous contract.
It was claimed she had been pushing for a 10 per cent pay rise.
Reader views (6)
good luck to fern for losing a lot of weight I had a gastric band fitted
just before christmas and though i have lost 3 stone it only came off easy
whilst I was on liquids, what people don't relise is that even with the band its not easy to loose weight .
I was twentyone and a half stone and now eighteen and a half I've got one hell of a long way to go yet and all those that have had a band fitted will tell you its still very hard to shift the fat especially if like me you have artheritis and can't do much exerise due to very very painful joints I hope people are more tolarant in future.
I must also stress that I see no reason why people feel that fern should have mentioned that she had a band fitted its really no ones business and she wasn't lying when she said that she did it by eating healthy and exerise because the band only helps to resrict the quantity but if one continues to eats cakes, biscuits, choclate etc etc which easily go down and passes through the band one can still put on weight so I hope everyone can understand better that the band is not an easy fix you still have to diet
- Lucy, coventry, 16/05/2009 03:12
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I don't care about her having a tummy tuck or whatever she had, but I do object to her initially bragging about how she lost all the weight through sheer determination, diet and exercise. That was a big fat lie and I will always disrespect her for it. She cheated and then pretended she hadn't, end of story!
- Isabel, woking, 18/08/2008 16:03
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That's a very generous size 16 I feel. But whatever good luck to her for losing weight and hopefully feeling better in herself. She actually looks quite sweet in 2005 as a wobbly walrus waddling about.
- Squiz, Islington, 18/08/2008 12:03
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I do agree she looks better but she is not a size 16, an 18 possibly but she is still a large lady.
- Louise, Essex, 18/08/2008 09:52
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You go fern, your looking fab what ever way you lost the wait....who really cares that she had an op?
As long as she is health and felling better about her self i don't see any problem but that's the media for you, you cant do right for doing wrong!
- Nicole, Scotland, 18/08/2008 09:34
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'trimmed' & 'toned' - that reporter needs to revisit the dictionary
- Mick, Billericay, 18/08/2008 09:07
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