{"id":628595,"date":"2026-10-12T19:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T19:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/628595\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T19:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T19:46:13","slug":"this-morning-goes-black-and-white-in-show-first-for-guest-with-bizarre-phobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/628595\/","title":{"rendered":"This Morning goes black and white in show first for guest with bizarre phobia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Viewers tuning in to watch This Morning may have been left puzzled after noticing their screens had turned black and white on Monday (12 October).<\/p>\n

In a show first, the colour was drained from screens for a short period as Dermot and Cat hosted the mid-morning show.<\/a><\/p>\n

But it was not a technical glitch, and rather due to an interview with a guest called Anto Shutigin, who has gone viral on social media<\/a> several times due to his chromophobia.<\/p>\n

Chromophobia is a rare condition which means he has a phobia of colours.<\/p>\n

Fears can also target a single colour, such as erythrophobia, which is the fear of red, or cyanophobia, the fear of blue.<\/p>\n

Anto, who joined the show on video link from New York<\/a> only wears or surrounds himself with monochrome items, and has previously shared videos showing his black and white bedroom and monochrome Christmas decorations.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old’s extreme phobia has forced him to live his life entirely in black and white. He explained how it started out as a child, and how his parents now even only wear black and white around him.<\/p>\n

“Black and white definitely has a level of sameness and consistency that can be less overwhelming” he said. “Rather than a room with a bunch of colours.”<\/p>\n

He said he believed living in New York City was one of the ‘driving factors’ behind his phobia, adding: “It’s so overstimulating colourful and loud.<\/p>\n

“I love coming home to an environment that doesn’t have any of that where I can hear myself think better and be more productive.”<\/p>\n

Explaining how the condition first started, he told Ben and Cat: “I’ve had OCD tendencies my whole life. I’d say that around 9th grade of high school was when this manifested the most.<\/p>\n

\"CatCat and Ben appeared in monochrome (ITV)<\/p>\n

“It slowly started with my wardrobe being mostly black. My parents are super supportive and usually only wear black and white around me. <\/p>\n

“If anything, they are proud of how much online success I’ve had, turning something that sounds limiting into a personal brand.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “When it comes to the outside, the best example I can give people is that it’s kind of like going to a job.<\/p>\n

“I can’t control the outside, but I can control my own environment, so it’s the balance.”<\/p>\n

Anto went on to explain that there is a misconception that he is ‘afraid’ or ‘has a panic attack’ when he sees colour, instead describing it as ‘more of an aversion’ and ‘preference of being in a colourless environment’.<\/p>\n

According to the Cleveland Clinic, some people with severe chromophobia do have a physical reaction. This can include a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweating, or panic attacks when seeing specific or bright hues.<\/p>\n

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and gradual, controlled exposure can help reframe and reduce fear responses in people with the phobia.<\/p>\n

During the segment, fans were quick to react to Anto\u2019s appearance and the way ITV approached it.<\/p>\n

\u201cColour is everywhere! How do you even exist?!\u201d one person commented as another added: “Surely he can still see his own screen in colour?”<\/p>\n

“Taken the colour out of the picture but the strap bar is still colour, make it make sense?!,” posted a third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Viewers tuning in to watch This Morning may have been left puzzled after noticing their screens had turned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,7386,554,555,111,139,69,2898,437],"class_list":["post-628595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-itv","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-this-morning","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}