Fern Britton's fat band con

TELLY favourite Fern Britton confessed last night that her dramatic weight loss is down to a GASTRIC BAND-and NOT exercise and sensible eating.

Her sensational admission will stun millions of fans who watched the ITV1 This Morning star shed FIVE STONE-while telling them she did it all the healthy way.

Even when the News of the World discovered her secret yesterday she continued to claim she hadn't had the op.

In a dramatic day, Fern's agent John Rush fiercely DENIED the story when we put it to him.

He staunchly declared: "This story is preposterous and utterly untrue! If you publish it, it is a libellous statement."

But just eight hours later, mum-of-four Fern-who dropped from a size 22 to a size 16-publicly ADMITTED she'd had a band fitted.

In a statement issued through Rush, the 50-year-old star said: "As I know, many people are interested in my weight loss over the past two years.

"As interest is so high I'm making public, as a personal choice, that I had a gastric band operation two years ago. I did this purely for myself and I would not wish to influence others to do the same. But for me it has worked and I am very pleased with the results."

Fern, who earns £700,000 a year for her four-day-a-week telly job, is currently on holiday with her TV chef husband Phil Vickery.

She has spent the last two years preaching to viewers about the benefits of her diet changes and cycling regime.

And she has appeared in a string of magazine articles openly advising women on the best methods to get fit and lose weight naturally. The presenter even LAUGHED OFF rumours that she'd resorted to cosmetic surgery to lose weight, in an interview with Now magazine.

She said: "I've always said I'm not a fan of dieting, so I just ate a bit healthier and took up cycling to work.

"I've heard a rumour that another celeb has been saying I've had liposuction. That's hilarious! It's taken me two years and a lot of hard work. I can wear my bikini with pride."

She told the magazine she had swapped cream for crème fraiche, saving 140 cals per serving, and was now sharing puddings.

The celeb, who hosts This Morning with Phillip Schofield, also released an exercise video, Lynne Robinson's Everyday Pilates with Fern Britton-which became a best-seller.

Even husband Phil, 46, recently said: "Fern has lost a lot of weight through cycling, walking the dog and not eating too much, simple as that."

Her admission will be a huge blow for ITV, which was recently fined heavily for telly cons. Millions will now have little trust in what she says.

Last night an ITV spokesman said: "We weren't aware of this matter-over the last two years Fern has cycled down the Nile, she exercises most days and has a very healthy lifestyle and healthy diet. As far as we're concerned, she lives and breathes what she talks about."

The spokesman refused to say what bosses would do about it. But he added: "This is not a con."

The shock news comes just four weeks after we told how This Morning's celeb interviewer Alison Hammond-a size 32-had also secretly had a gastric band op.

Bikini

She also told viewers it was down to diet and exercise. When Fern was at her largest, she claimed to be comfortable with her body-even appearing in jokey TV ads for Ryvita Minis, where her head was put on a slim woman's body.

In 2005, when she was snapped in her bikini in an unflattering photo on a beach in Cornwall, she simply laughed off the jibes.

And she insisted she was never miserable, saying: "You can tell there are people watching me and thinking, 'Oh, the poor tubby woman must go home and sob her heart out over her size.' But it's just not true."