Anthea Turner is the latest former GMTV host to discuss what it was like working on the show, in the wake of an unexpected row between Lorraine Kelly and former Tory leadership hopeful Esther McVey.
The pair’s feud (or lack thereof, depending on who you ask) hit headlines last week, after Lorraine claimed she “didn’t remember” whether she got on with the politician when they worked at ITV together.
Anthea worked on the show for two years in the early 90s, leaving before McVey joined to cover Fiona Phillips’ maternity leave in 1999.
Sharing her thoughts, she told Best magazine: “When I arrived at GMTV, it was a terrible shock, because I’d come from Blue Peter – where everyone was nice to everyone! It was an intensely hostile environment.
“I used to feel physically sick some mornings – really nauseous at the idea of going in there.”
Last week, when McVey claimed Lorraine had a bee in her bonnet because she’d been promoted over the Scottish star, Fiona Phillips got involved.
Writing in her newspaper column, she said: “My mum told me at a very young age. ‘Don’t bother telling untruths because you’ll always get found out’.
“I wonder if Tory Leadership hopeful, Esther McVey was told that as a child?”
To make matters worse, McVey’s former TV agent, Jon Roseman, then stuck the knife in.
He claimed McVey was disliked after she was chosen to cover Fiona’s maternity leave on GMTV, as the role was expected to go to regular host Penny Smith.
“She was widely perceived as the girl who took someone else’s job from under their nose,” he said. “Worse than that, she exuded the same lack of warmth that, to me, has characterised her political career. Esther had no empathy.”