Saturday Morning host James Martin was on the receiving end of a brutal dig from Matt Tebbutt at the end of 2023. However, fast forward a few months and he appears to have performed a U-turn.
Matt replaced James as the host of Saturday Kitchen on BBC One back in 2016. The two men now host rival cookery shows on at the same time on a Saturday morning, after James launched his James Martin’s Saturday Morning series in 2017.
Saturday Morning host James Martin quits Saturday Kitchen
Back in 2016, James decided to quit his role hosting Saturday Kitchen on BBC One. He had presented the show for 10 years.
He said at the time: “I would like to thank the BBC and Saturday Kitchen for the great opportunity they gave me. It has been an amazing journey and I have been privileged to work with some of the world’s greatest chefs and some of the greatest names in showbiz.
“I wish the new chefs every success. I am looking forward to getting stuck into my new projects and to lots of lie-ins on a Saturday morning.”
However, just over a year after leaving, James made the switch to ITV to launch James Martin’s Saturday Morning, a show with a very similar format, which he has hosted ever since.
Matt Tebbutt in brutal dig at Saturday Morning host James Martin
Matt Tebbutt replaced James as host of Saturday Kitchen – and took a cheeky swipe at him during a podcast appearance.
The TV host was a guest on the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast back in December 2023.
Wogan branded Matt the “thinking person’s James Martin”, before asking about the duo’s “rivalry”.
“There’s a mild rivalry with weekend chefs? What is that about?” he asked.
“Viewing figures! Can we stay on air? Can we pay our mortgage?” Matt replied.
Wogan then continued, saying: “There’s your good self, there’s James, who used to be where you are.”
Matt quickly fired back with his jibe: “[James is] doing exactly the same thing on ITV. After wanting to leave…”
Matt’s U-turn
However, just over a year on from his podcast chat, James has been on Matt’s mind once more. This time, though, he was a lot nicer.
Matt insisted there is no bad blood between himself and James, clarifying in a new interview: “Not really, no, we do sort of similar shows on different channels.”
He continued: “I know James very well, we’ve done food festivals and stuff like that. He’s got his audience and I’ve got mine, sometimes they cross over but it all seems to flow quite nicely.”
He went on to insist: “There are very few people who are actual rivals.”
James Martin’s Saturday Morning airs Saturdays at 9.30am on ITV1 and ITVX.
Saturday Kitchen airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 10am the same day.
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