Cat Deeley would ‘walk away’ from This Morning for one reason

Cat Deeley has revealed the one reason she would ‘walk away’ from her hosting duties with ITV’s flagship breakfast show This Morning.

The television presenter, 47, took over hosting duties from Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield last year, following his ‘unwise’ affair with a younger co-worker and the surrounding furore.

Then, when Holly left in October following the news of a planned kidnap attempt, Cat stepped in to present full-time, along with co-presenter Ben Shephard.

Since then, things have been relatively smooth for Cat and Ben, who largely have been successful in helping get the TV institution back on an even keel.

Opening up in a new interview, she weighed when questioned whether she felt ‘vulnerable’ in the wake of Holly’s experiences on – and off – the show.

In doing so, famous Brummie Cat revealed what it would take for her to quit the show.

Speaking to Grazia, Cat said: ‘I don’t feel particularly vulnerable.’

She continued: ’I’d always think about my own mental health. If something was affecting me, or I hated going into work, I’d walk away. It’s more important that I enjoy what I do.’

Cat went on to talk about the working conditions on the show, denying any rumours of there being a ‘toxic’ working environment at This Morning.

‘Well, obviously Ben and I had heard all of those stories. I can only speak as I find it, and I have no idea what happened before we were there, but I haven’t seen one scrap of it,’ said Cat, who is married to Irish comedian Patrick Kielty.

Last month, Cat spoke out about the increased scrutiny she’s faced since taking on UK television’s most famous sofa job.

When asked whether she had been shocked by the sudden scrutiny, Cat said: ‘Yes! Everyone keeps checking in with me, “Are you OK? Are you handling this all right?”

She then continued: ‘I don’t care. I do not care. If it gets too much for me I’m going to quit. I don’t need to do it. I could stop and be a mum for most of the year and then go and do the shows in America. There is no ulterior motive for me doing this.’

Earlier this year, the Strictly presenter came under fire after inadvertently offending audiences with an ill-received joke about her dancing.

As she grooved along to All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor, Cat described her dancing style as ‘just having a seizure.’

The offhand comment sparked outrage from charity The Epilepsy Society, who wrote on X: ‘Seizures are no laughing matter for people with #epilepsy @catdeeley. Please do better and educate yourselves about this difficult and poorly understood condition, @thismorning.’

Following complaints made, Cat issued an apology on a later episode of the show and said sorry for her choice of language. ‘I never intended to offend anyone,’ she added.

The former SMTV Live presenter said: ‘First of all I want to apologise to anyone who was offended yesterday after I made a light-hearted comment about my dancing style.

‘It really wasn’t supposed to cause any upset to anybody but I can see why that might have been the case, so I do apologise and I’m very sorry.’