Vanessa Feltz: ‘I wasn’t allowed to stay on This Morning’
She's leaving ITV for her new Channel 5 show.
Vanessa Feltz has revealed the truth behind her exit from This Morning, saying she would have ‘loved’ to stay on the ITV programme.
Earlier this month, the 63-year-old broadcaster announced she was leaving This Morning after 33 years, and moving to Channel 5 to launch her own daytime chat show.
Following the success of her ITV talk show Vanessa, which ran from 1994 to 1998 before moving to the BBC, as well as a two-year stint on TalkTV, the Celebrity Big Brother star is launching her daily show on Channel 5 next week.
She’s vowed to be ‘real, honest and unpredictable’, and will cover a range of topics from relationships and parenting to celebrity gossip and fashion.
Speaking to Metro ahead of its premiere, Vanessa shared her excitement for her new gig, but revealed she would have loved the chance to remain on This Morning at the same time.
‘I love This Morning, I would never leave it, I couldn’t love it more,’ she said.
‘I would happily have stayed and gone on the back of a motorbike from the This Morning studio straight to Channel 5 and done both.
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Previous Page Next Page‘I almost believed I’d be able to do that, but I think apparently, it’s not the way it’s done… but I’d have done it, and I think they would have been happy for me to do it too.’
She insisted there was no behind-the-scenes drama involved with her exit, saying: ‘I love doing it, they like me, we all love each other, and I know that sounds very cosy and all of that, but it gets like that after a while when you’ve been there so long and know everyone, it’s a great pleasure doing it.’
Vanessa, who was speaking to Metro on behalf of Heart Bingo, continued: ‘Yes I’m not doing it but I didn’t leave, I am just doing something else, that’s all.
‘It wasn’t leaving and certainly had nothing at all to do with anything that’s going on at This Morning or has been going on, it’s only to do with the fact that I’ve got this opportunity to do a new show, but I love it there.’
The TV icon is launching her own Channel 5 programme (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)When asked what she was hoping for from her new eponymous programme, she shared: ‘That people like it! With anything you do on telly or on radio or in the paper, you want to feel that people enjoyed it or that they were engaged by it, that they felt that it was sincere and genuine, and that they felt like they were wanting to contribute to it by phoning it.
‘Or that they felt that people were saying things that they’d never quite heard them say in that way before, or that they were touched or inspired. The good stuff that people are really involved in and enjoy, that’s what I’m hoping for.’
She added: ‘Also that they felt as though they had that hour of the day to just chill and be entertained and to feel intrigued and maybe reappraise somebody that they thought a certain thing about or get some expertise on something without feeling stressed or in any way entrenched in the news agenda, which I think will just be such a nice feeling.’
Though an expert in live TV, Vanessa elsewhere admitted that she will have ‘a slight nervous question mark’ in the back of her mind presenting her live show, which always comes with risks.
Vanessa has had a decades-long career in TV, from Channel 4 to ITV to TalkTV and now Channel 5 (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)‘We’re thinking, “I hope this person doesn’t say something totally inappropriate,” because you don’t know what people are going to say, especially if you’re talking about their real lives,’ she said.
‘If they’re talking about the part they played in a soap or a book they’ve written that’s one thing, but if they’re talking about how they really feel about something, or something that’s got to them or the thing that makes them nervous or terrified or even the thing they wish would happen, you don’t quite know how to go.’
She has however vowed to follow her viewers’ wishes in changing topics and being flexible about the conversations – something she wasn’t able to do in her previous programmes, where she was forced to stick to an agenda.
‘If you think we’re talking about the wrong thing and there’s something that you really think we should be talking about, just ring me, I’ll swerve it,’ she said.
Vanessa has vowed to be flexible and honest on her new chat show (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)‘I don’t have to stick to a script, I don’t want a script. This show is not about reading an autocue or reading what someone else has written for me to say, I don’t need anyone to write anything for me to say… I don’t need that and I don’t want it.’
She added that she’d be willing to ‘move things around’ in a way that can’t be done on radio or normally with TV, where oftentimes ‘you’re very stuck with the guest and the subject’.
She went on: ‘Even if you don’t really like it that much or it’s not going well, if it’s a bit dull or whatever, you’re stuck with it, you can’t just suddenly cut to the cooking segment if you’re still doing the fashion section.
‘But on this show, I think you will be able to because it’s basically me pivoting it around and I’m very happy to.’
The TV star admitted she’s not setting out to ‘solve the whole world’s problems’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)‘We’ll give it a whirl, I’ll do my best,’ she promised, though insisted she’s not ‘setting out to solve the whole world’s problems’.
‘I’ve got many of my own, I haven’t cracked life and found Mr Right and lived happily ever after although I’ve tried hard enough, but I haven’t succeeded.’
Vanessa, who split from Ben Ofoedu in 2023 after a 16-year romance, has openly shared her story going through public heartbreak, including in a stint on Celebs Go Dating.
And after being so open about relationship breakdown and writing about her experiences in her autobiography, Vanessa Bares All, she’s vowed to continue being honest for her fans.
Vanessa and Ben split in 2023 after 16 years together (Picture: PA)The Strictly Come Dancing star told us: ‘I never really got the chance to hold back, it wasn’t my decision to make things public.
‘I’ve been followed by paparazzi and had people sell stories about me since 1994 so if I’d wanted to keep something about my life private, I don’t think I’d stand a chance in hell.’
She added: ‘People have always shared so generously stories about their own lives with me, I feel like I must be equally honest with them, because you can’t really expect people to ring up and tell you their deepest thoughts and feelings if you keep yours very private and don’t share them.’
She’s promised to do just that in her new Channel 5 show, having previously said in a statement: ‘This show is all about YOU – your stories, your opinions, your emotions, and your triumphs.
‘Television’s never been so real, honest, or unpredictable.
‘Life isn’t perfect, so let’s not pretend it is – let’s help each other out, have a giggle, and make every show a conversation worth having so kick off your shoes and come and join me for lunch, relax with a bit of me time and let’s have a ball!’
Vanessa was speaking to Metro on behalf of Heart Bingo.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 while Vanessa will launch on Monday, March 24, at 12.45pm on Channel 5.
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