Blue Peter presenters Konnie Huq and Zoe Salmon had to apologise to viewers about the rigging of an online poll to name the show's cat.
Huq held up Cookie, the children show's new kitten, who has now been given the original name viewers wanted for the pet.
Salmon stood next to her cradling Socks, the Blue Peter cat that viewers were asked to name originally in the poll.
Huq told viewers that Cookie was "a brand new kitten, only 13-weeks old, and we're all in love with him."
Salmon said: "You may have already seen or read in the news that Cookie was the name that actually should have been given."
The presenters said that instead of calling the animal Cookie, as viewers wanted, the production team changed the winning name to Socks.
Salmon told viewers: "So today we had to say sorry, and what better way to say sorry than with this cute thing."
The apology came in the first edition of the new series of the iconic BBC One show.
It followed Monday's announcement that acting editor Tim Levell has become the new editor of the programme.
The former editor, Richard Marson, was reportedly sacked over the poll. Mr Marson was also at the helm when Blue Peter was involved in its first and most serious deception, in which a child visiting the studio was asked to pose as a phone-in competition winner. The BBC was fined an unprecedented £50,000 by media watchdog Ofcom over the incident.
