AMANDA Holden has backed Dermot O’Leary to take over from Phillip Schofield on This Morning as the contest heats up between ITV’s hottest talent.
The ‘Britain’s Got Talent‘ judge believes Dermot and Alison Hammond – who co-host the programme every Friday – do a “great job” on the ITV1 daytime show, which Phillip departed last weekend after 21 years.
While speaking on the ‘Heart Breakfast’ radio show, Amanda’s co-host Jamie Theakston asked her: “Do you think he’d be good to replace Schofe?”
Amanda replied: “Yes, I think him and Alison do a great job don’t they?”
It comes as Amanda claimed in June 2019 that Phillip had ignored her offer to meet for coffee, just days after she took a cheeky swipe at Phillip by naming him as one of the things she wouldn’t want to find in her house.
The comments fuelled rumours that there could be tensions between the pair who, on occasions, presented ‘This Morning’ together.
Amanda claimed that she had once extended an olive branch to Phillip, by suggesting they meet over coffee to iron out any differences, however, Amanda claimed he ignored her invitation and never replied to her text message.
Jamie asked her on the ‘Heart Breakfast’ show at the time: “You might have moved on but I just wanted to know, is there any more to the story?”
Amanda then replied: “I did offer to meet him for a coffee months ago, he didn’t reply to my text. What can I say?”
Jamie then said: “The olive branch had been extended.”
To which she replied: “Oh, yes.”
A week beforehand in June 2019, Amanda compared Phillip to a household pest, saying she wouldn’t want to discover spiders, flies or the TV presenter in her abode.
When asked on the breakfast show what she wouldn’t want to find inside her home, she said: “Spiders, flies and Phillip Schofield.”
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.
