Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles joined ITV in a blaze of publicity last year on £1 million-a-year dealsAdrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley have been axed from ITV breakfast show Daybreak, it was reported last night.
The pair, who were heralded as the stars of morning TV when they defected from the BBC last year on £1million-a-year deals, are set to leave ‘within weeks’, it is understood.
Their appearance on Daybreak has failed to capture the public’s imagination.
The programme has struggled to get ratings beyond 700,000 viewers – fewer than its predecessor GMTV.
The move comes after the show recently appointed a new editor and as channel bosses plan for a major revamp in the new year.
It is understood that both Bleakley, 32, who is engaged to footballer Frank Lampard, and Chiles, 44, have been told of the decision. Last night ITV refused to deny the claims that the pair would be leaving the show, which had a £15million launch last September.
A senior source at the commercial broadcaster said: ‘Do we want to be running a show where we are happy being No 2? No, we don’t.’
Daybreak gets about half the number of viewers as its rival, BBC Breakfast.Another source said: ‘They ran out of time. The advertising numbers had fallen off a cliff because Adrian and Christine were such a turn-off. In today’s climate, that was unacceptable.’
It is not known whether ITV will opt for big names or unknowns as replacement presenters.
According to the report, Chiles, who is also the broadcaster’s main presenter for its football coverage, had accepted that he had been dropped from the show.
Axed: It is understood the presenting pair have been informed of the decision they would both be leaving the showBut co-host Miss Bleakley, whose WAG lifestyle was said to have been a turn-off for viewers, is reportedly asking for it to be presented as if she is leaving for new projects.
It comes as ITV announced that Miss Bleakley would replace Holly Willoughby in co-presenting Dancing On Ice with Phillip Schofield, after the This Morning host signed up to present the BBC’s new singing talent show, The Voice.
Bleakley, seen here with footballer fiancee Frank Lampard, will replace Holly Willoughby as presenter of Dancing On Ice in JanuaryIt is hoped a new role for Miss Bleakley will give her a chance to reinvent herself and prove she is a valuable member of ITV’s stable of talent.
ITV bosses have hired former BBC Breakfast editor David Kermode to be the show’s new editor, and it is expected other staff will lose their jobs.
No laughing matter: Daybreak only gets around half the viewers of its breakfast rival on BBC
source:dailymail
