Holly Willoughby quits ITV series with co-host Stephen Mulhern
The duo have been establishing an onscreen partnership.
Holly Willoughby has quit as co-presenter of relaunched ITV series You Bet! after just one series.
Her Dancing On Ice co-star and colleague Stephen Mulhern will return to anchor it solo when it hits our screens again later this year.
ITV has confirmed that the British game show – their biggest entertainment launch with younger viewers for almost three years – will return after Holly, 44, and Stephen, 47, brought it back with two special episodes in December.
An ITV spokesperson told Metro: ‘Unfortunately Holly couldn’t commit to the dates to host, but will hopefully appear as a guest panellist on one of the shows in the new series.’
TV Zone first broke the news, after confirming that the show would be back for more episodes following its successful relaunch, which featured celebrity guests including Ron Beckett, Judi Love, Alison Hammond and Olly Murs.
You Bet! first graced British TV screens in 1988, running until 1997 and hosted by light entertainment legend Sir Bruce Forsyth, as well as Matthew Kelly and Darren Day.
The relaunched game show was seen as a way of cementing her onscreen partnership with Stephen Mulhern, who will continue with the programme solo (Picture: ITV)It sees competitors use their unique abilities to take part in unusual and outrageous challenges for the chance of winning a cash prize, while a panel of celebrities and the studio audience gamble on their success.
Recent challenges included a couple attempting to identify different types of cacti by licking them, and a woman trying to scale a carpark structure and beat a racing car driver to the top and back.
Comment nowDid you watch You Bet?Comment NowYou Bet! was Holly’s first new show at ITV since she left This Morning in October 2023, and another show on which she and Dancing On Ice co-presenter Stephen could team up.
Their TV pairing faces an uncertain future as it’s feared Dancing On Ice is facing the axe on ITV after pro-skaters and former Olympic champions Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean announced their retirement from the format after this most recent series.
Stephen and Holly also host Dancing On Ice together, although that ITV show’s future is being called into question (Picture: Kieron McCarron/ITV/Shutterstock)The weekend flagship show first started in 2006, running until 2014, before it ended and was then brought back again in 2018.
On Sunday night, Coronation Street star Sam Aston became the latest winner of the show, alongside professional partner Molly Lanaghan.
Outside of her ITV work, Holly has also been snapped up by Netflix and paid a rumoured fee of close to £1million to host new reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt with Bear Grylls, which debuted last month.
You Bet! is available to stream now on ITVX.
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