He has a Scottish heritage, but grew up in the United States.

And so John Barrowman naturally rolled back into his Scots accent when interviewed by fellow Glaswegian Lorraine Kelly on Thursday morning.

But fans watching at home were left confused, taking to Twitter to ask him what he was playing at.

This prompted Lorraine to tell the former-I'm A Celeb campmate about the online reaction.

'Lots of people are saying “why are you talking in a Scottish accent?”,' she told him. 'It’s because you’re talking to me.'

'Yes, with my mum and dad I speak Scottish, when I’m with anyone who is Scottish I speak Scottish,' John, 51, explained. 'When I was a kid I was bullied as I went to a state school with no Scottish kids, so I speak in an American accent.'

'Leave me alone!' John then shouted despairingly.

Comments on Twitter included: 'Is john Barrowman picking up on Lorraine’s accent?? I swear he spun a bit Scottish this morning!'

Another tweeted, 'He’s more Scottish than ever before,' echoed by another who posted: 'Love how @JohnBarrowman’s Scottish accent has come back stronger talking to #Lorraine.'

Another added: 'Really can’t get my head around how John Barrowman has 2 accents.'

Lorraine’s official Twitter account even joked about the conversation between the pair, posting a clip and writing: 'What happens when you put @reallorraine and @JohnBarrowman in a studio together? Everyone gets *a lot* more Scottish!' 

The star didn't move to the US until his father was relocated there for work, when John was eight. But from that point on, he picked up his American twang.

He was seen in December on the I'm A Celeb Coming Out show, where he and his fellow finalists Harry Redknapp and Emily Atack were reunited with their families.

John became immediately tearful when he saw that his parents Marion and John Sr had flown out to Australia to greet him, with the three of them enjoying an emotional reunion - again, with John speaking in a heavy Scots tone.

Of his experience on the celebrity endurance show, he told Lorraine: 'I enjoyed the disconnect, I enjoyed the challenge.

'I’ve learned to let go and [husband] Scott [Gill] has noticed I've changed. We're renovating a house and normally I would be fighting with the builders and now I'm like "okay".

'Scott said, “what has happened?”. I think he preferred the tetchy John.'

On working with Emily, who ended up in second place while Harry took the jungle crown - John said: 'We’re having some meeting, we’re maybe having one today.'

The pair forged a  close friendship while in the jungle, and the ex-Desperate Housewives star hinted that he might collaborate with the actress on a project.

'With the jungle being such a success last year, they’d be silly to not to do something. We really like each other so much we really get on and need a TV show,' he said.

Lorraine airs weekly on ITV from 8:30AM.