Amanda Holden is being hotly tipped to take over Cat Deeley’s presenting baton on This Morning amidst reports that viewers have failed to warm to the latter. It’s reports that fans of the popular daytime TV programme “haven’t taken” to Deeley since she began her role in March this year.
The show reportedly witnessed a dip in its ratings, with one episode in September seeing fewer than 700,000 viewers tuning in. This came following a period of change where Deeley and her co-host Ben Shephard replaced Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield after the duo departed the show earlier in 2023 — Schofield following a publicised scandal he termed an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a male crew member.
Despite the introduction of Deeley and Shephard to helm the programme, their stint has not been without scrutiny. Deeley relayed to the Sunday Times how instances such as Shephard’s jokes were misconstrued by critics, saying: “Ben will make a joke and it will be, like, ‘He snapped at her!”.
ITV had brought in Deeley purportedly to help “steady the ship”. In May, they refuted claims of declining viewer engagement, asserting in a statement that This Morning “has never had a better connection with viewers”.
Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda is certainly no stranger to the couch of This Morning, having covered for Holly during her maternity leave and she also appeared on the show from 2014 to 2019, reports the Express.
Amanda and Phillip Schofield reportedly had a fall out, with Phillip claiming that Amanda kept him on his “toes” and had a “faulty edit button”, which he found “endearing” but also “occasionally quite scary”. When Holly took off to host I’m A Celeb in replacement of Ant McPartlin in 2018, Amanda was in line to fill her shoes on This Morning.
But according to the Sun, she lost out on the opportunity because of Phil. Insiders at the time suggested that although Amanda was a frontrunner, she was passed over by Phillip who supposedly preferred Rochelle Humes, considering her “easier to manage”.
Back in 2017, Amanda expressed her enthusiasm for the role to the Huffington Post: “I loved every minute. Holly is incredible but if she ever does finally hang up her stilettos, that’s the job I’d really want to be considered for.”
In an interview with Grazia Magazine, she said she would “walk away” from a job if it started “affecting” her or if she “hated going into work”, emphasising the importance of enjoying her work. Betfair has put Amanda at odds of 4/1 to take over, yet they see Alison Hammond as a more probable choice.
ITV have been contacted for a statement.
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