Holly Willoughby allegedly chose to forego the Tric Awards in order to avoid competing with A Place In The Sun and a reunion with Eamonn Holmes, who has been vocal about his dislike for the This Morning presenter in recent weeks.
Holly, 42, was not seen at the renowned ceremony on Tuesday, after spending the weekend at Glastonbury with her husband Dan Baldwin.
Since This Morning won the Television and Radio Industries Club Awards for outstanding daytime show last year, scandal has erupted at the ITV show, with Phillip Schofield departing after confessing to a ‘unwise but not criminal’ affair.
GB News presenter Eamonn has been vocal about the ‘toxic’ climate at the This Morning, which he and his wife Ruth Langsford used to anchor, having dubbed Holly a ‘big mouth’ and called Schofield a ‘fake’.
According to insiders, this is one of the reasons Holly did not attend, despite the presence of her ITV co-stars Susanna Reid and Martin Lewis.
An insider shared: ‘If you were Holly you wouldn’t have gone, would you?
‘Not only would you have come face to face with Eamonn but you would have had to go through the humiliation of losing out to A Place in The Sun.’
They added to Mail Online: ‘It was all very different to this time last year when Holly and Phil turned up, big smiles on their faces, and were the toast of the do.’
It was previously stated that the mother-of-three was unable to attend due to other obligations.
Vanessa Feltz, a regular This Morning contributor, as well as Lorraine and Good Morning Britain’s Dr Hilary Jones, attended the posh three-course dinner and awards event.
Meanwhile, This Morning’s editor Martin Frizell, as well as hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, did not appear to be present when Eamonn, 63, walked down the pink carpet at London’s Grosvenor House on crutches following back surgery.
This follows Holly’s recent appearance on This Monring, in which she attempted to ‘strike back’ at some of Eamonn’s incendiary comments.
Eamonn accused Holly and Schofield of being ‘drunk’ when hosting This Morning, and said Holly was ‘using’ Alison. He also claimed that neither Holly nor Schofield knew the identities of anyone behind the scenes of This Morning.
‘People would avoid him in the corridor. He didn’t look at anybody, he didn’t know anybody’s names. Holly doesn’t know people’s names either. This is legendary within the production team, that how distant they are and how they just don’t care,’ Eamonn said during his explosive interview with Dan Wootton.
During a tumultuous conversation with Gino D’Acampo on This Morning last Tuesday, Holly appeared to prove that assertion incorrect, as she picked out one cameraman’s name in particular.
Despite appearing to return to normalcy, This Morning was denied the daytime prize, which went to Jonnie Irwin’s A Place In The Sun.
Meanwhile, Peaky Blinders won best drama, while Gogglebox won best entertainment.
The Chase, Piers Morgan, Nigel Farage, and Roman Kemp were also named winners in the categories of best game show, interview of the year, news presenter, and radio personality.
Jonnie made a rare public appearance in the midst of his terminal cancer diagnosis, having stated in November that he only had “months to live.”
The 49-year-old appeared at comfortable as he walked arm in arm with his co-stars to the Television and Radio Industries Club honours with a grey shirt, khaki jacket, and cool eyewear.
Jonnie also shared a video from the event, in which Fleur East can be heard playing Uptown Funk from the stage.
Speaking at the event on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, he told The Mirror: ‘Today is a good day. Yesterday I peeled myself out of bed and munched painkillers but so far so good today.
‘I take every day as a gift and as it comes.’
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
Source My Celebrity Life.
