Dermot O’Leary has broken his silence regarding reports that he is replacing Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford.
The television star, 47, is reportedly replacing Eamonn and Ruth, 60, along with Alison Hammond, 45, on This Morning.
In an interview with Ireland AM on Thursday, Dermot addressed the rumours.
He said that he didn’t want to upset anyone but that he and Alison did indeed enjoy their summer stint on This Morning.
Is Dermot O’Leary really replacing Eamonn Holmes?
Dermot said: “It is always tricky when there are colleagues and friends involved.
“There’s nothing confirmed yet, but you know, we enjoyed doing the summer, so we’d like to do more.
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Before adding: “But at the same time, you don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes or treat anyone badly, so you’re always sort of caught between a rock and a hard place on that sort of stuff.”
ITV has yet to confirm the rumoured host adjustments.
Eamonn and Ruth took over Monday-Thursday slots as Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby took the summer off.
What has Ruth Langsford said about the rumours?
And Alison and Dermot went down an absolute treats with viewers as they took over the summer Friday slot.
Ruth and Eamonn have yet to formally address the reports.
Read more: Holly Willoughby reveals why she’s taken time off This Morning
However, Ruth did appear to make a swipe at Alison while speaking to the Mirror Notebook.
She said that she and Eamonn had earned their prestigious telly careers through sheer hard work.
She explained: “We’ve put the work in. We didn’t do a reality show and get an overnight job on the telly. We’ve come up through the ranks.”
Whereas Alison of course shot to fame when she competed on Big Brother in 2002.
But Ruth’s representative shot back and said her remarks were taken completely out of context.
Her spokesperson said: “It has been rather taken out of context – as the interview was done more than five weeks ago and was absolutely not in reference to the recent articles at all.
“She was simply making a general observation about the TV industry and the different routes into the business – illustrating the point that whereas some presenters launch their careers by being on other TV programmes first, her and Eamonn’s experience and career paths had taken a different and more traditional path.”
*ED has contacted ITV for comment.
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