Cat Deeley was eager to join Rylan Clark as the new co-hosts of This Morning.
Last year, ITV’s flagship breakfast show lost both of its long-time hosts.
In May, Phillip Schofield, 61, left the programme after confessing to a ‘unwise but not unlawful’ romance with a younger colleague.
Then, five months later, Holly Willoughby announced her departure after 14 years, calling it a ‘tough farewell’.
In the months since, a roster of presenters has stepped in, but this week it was announced that Cat, 47, will take up the top post permanently with Good Morning Britain’s Ben Shephard, 49.
According to a source, the new hosts will be publicly unveiled next month.
However, Cat was claimed to be eager to present with Rylan, with whom she had previously collaborated during a three-day spell on the programme in November.
However, she would ‘not receive preferential treatment’ while reconciling her new work with her duties as the presenter of So You Think You Can Dance in the United States.
‘She will absolutely not be given time off to film the next series of So You Think You Can Dance. So she has to make that decision, it’s one or the other, end of,’ the source said.
‘Cat told friends that she wanted the job, if she could make it work.’
The broadcaster is also believed to be concerned about her husband, comedian and TV presenter Patrick Kielty’s responsibilities in Ireland, and how they would balance their careers.
‘She also feared that Patrick’s commitments in Ireland made things very tricky for her to take the job. She also really, really wanted to do it with Rylan,’ they added when speaking to The Mirror.
When speculations of Cat joining the programme originally surfaced last year, it was rumoured she and Ben would get £555,000.
Despite the large income, it was far lesser than Holly and Phil’s, who allegedly earned £700,000 each year for their roles.
Cat’s current employment on the US reality programme, however, apparently pays her at least £344,000 every season.
The upcoming season of the programme, which will broadcast in March, will have her splitting her time between the United States and the United Kingdom during shooting.
When Cat and Ben were announced as the frontrunners for the This Morning jobs, a source stated that Ben was ‘clearly well known and adored by the ITV daytime audience owing to his many years on the breakfast couch’.
Meanwhile, they added Cat had a’very recognised face’ to viewers.
However, after her hosting stint last year, Cat described her experience on the show as ‘a one-off’.
‘It was so much fun, but it was only really a one-off,’ she told Closer in December.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
Source My Celebrity Life.