Livid This Morning viewers raged as a women who smuggled £160k of cannabis blamed the ‘societal pressure to look glamorous’ for her actions. 

Levi Whalley, 30, appeared on the ITV show to tell her side of the story after she was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty last week for trying to smuggle drugs into the UK. 

The nurse-turned-influencer explained that her friend Sophie Bannister, also 30, was approached online by a girl who she met in Marbella, and they were offered an all-expenses-paid trip to New York in return for bringing two suitcases of watches back home. 

The pair were arrested at the airport, released on bail and weren’t charged until January this year – ultimately receiving a suspended sentence.

Levi was dismissed from her nursing job in the private sector straight away and now she’s completed a number of courses to administer Botox and fillers.

Presenter Sian Welby pointed out: ‘It feels very frustrating that in some ways it was all for social media, the pictures, like Dermot said you had an incredible career path, a nurse, a midwife…

Livid This Morning viewers raged as a women who smuggled £160k of cannabis blamed ‘societal pressure to look glamorous’ for her actions 

Levi Whalley, 30, appeared on the ITV show to tell her side of the story after she was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty last week for trying to smuggle drugs into the UK

‘Was it almost this strange societal pressure? Like you say, not many people are going to feel sorry for you in this situation some of it feels obvious it was going to happen…

‘However, you did do it. You’re not the first person to make a mistake in life. What was that urge?’

Levi said: ‘I think it’s the society we live in today.  It’s all an image. 

‘Reflecting back on my life now, I see it totally different.

‘At the time, this image looked glamorous, my life now, I’m more quiet. I want to take a different route in things.’

Dermot O’Leary asked if she was still on social media, to which she replied that she was and he asked if she thinks she should come off it. 

Levi said: ‘To be honest, with all the bad press that we’ve had, I’ve not even responded to the press. 

‘It was my birthday the day after, so I was reposting posts that friends had put on. 

The nurse turned influencer explained that her friend Sophie Bannister, also 30, was approached online by a girl who she met in Marbella, and they were offered an all expenses paid for trip to New York in return if they would bring two suitcases of watches back home

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‘But I haven’t responded to anything anyone has said. I’ve kept very quiet with this.

‘It was just today I wanted to speak my side of the story about it. I want to make awareness to people.’ 

Those watching at home were fuming that the show had given her airtime. 

One wrote on X: ‘Stop platforming criminals she can’t have believed it was kosher #ThisMorning.’

Another added: ‘Oh come on #ThisMorning why the hell have you given this drug runner a voice on morning TV!!’ 

A third chimed in: ‘What in f***s name are we expected to think ? The woman is a f***ing moron, societal pressure #thismorning.’

‘Why we given this woman airtime. She was an idiot, broke the law, got punished, lucky to avoid jail. Is she looking for sympathy? Now blaming societal pressures, give me a break. What are people going to get from this story. #ThisMorning,’ a fourth chimed in. 

A fifth questioned: ‘#thismorning It’s society today it’s all about image!!??…..’

Those watching at home rushed to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their complaints over giving her airtime 

A sixth said: ‘Still don’t have any sympathy for this woman even after hearing her drone on #thismorning.’

A seventh fumed: ‘She wanted to make money and now she has to deal with the consequences. #thismorning’

‘Feel sorry for her? She’s thick! Thick as a plank!! Who in their right mind takes a suitcase on trust through customs… SHE IS AN AIRHEAD #ThisMorning,’ an eighth tweeted.

Elsewhere in the interview Levi explained that she wanted to make sure that people are aware of the risks when being approached to do something like she did.

‘I want to make people aware that you know, we want to make people aware that at certain times, people may appear that they have this glamorous lifestyle, but you can have some vulnerability as well,’ she said.

‘At the time, people might disagree because we were smiling and happy, normal people wouldn’t agree to go and take a suitcase, to my friends [I’d ask]: “Would you bring a suitcase back?”

‘They’d say “Absolutely not”. So that shows that there was some instability in ourselves.

‘So I want to make people aware that if you’re asked or given these type of opportunities to change your life, that we were given, really think about the consequences going forward.’ 

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.