Holly Willoughby is about to go on maternity leave as she prepares to welcome her third child into the world, leaving ‘This Morning’ bosses with the problem of who to replace her with on the daytime show - with both Christine Bleakley and Emma Willis in the running for the cover job.
Whoever is picked will present the ITV daytime show with Phillip Schofield every morning, with The Sun claiming it could be for as long as a year once Holly’s baby is born.
Holly Willoughby
Christine - who previously co-hosted ‘Dancing On Ice’ with Phillip - is thought to be his pick for the job, however producers are now considering ‘Big Brother’ host Emma, who occasionally hosts segments from ‘The Hub’ on ‘This Morning’.
Emma Willis
According to a source quoted in The Sun: “Phillip is good friends with Christine and wants her to get the job - but bosses are also looking at Emma.”
Christine hosted ‘This Morning’ for a brief stint earlier this year, where she co-presented alongside Holly Willoughby while Phillip was recording new episodes of his show ‘The Cube’.
Christine Bleakley
However, Christine’s appearance on the daytime show received a lukewarm response from viewers, with some branding her as “wooden” and even “terrible” on Twitter, having already spoken about how nervous she was.
The newspaper also claims that whoever gets the job will be crucial for bringing in viewers to ITV daytime, as their other shows ‘Good Morning Britain’ and ‘Loose Women’ are both suffering from falling ratings.
In fact after ‘Good Morning Britain’ hit its lowest viewing figures ever earlier this month, it was claimed the breakfast show could even be facing the axe, having only made its debut in April.
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