Richard Madeley has revealed his return to Good Morning Britain was delayed by Piers Morgan quitting the programme.
The former This Morning presenter was delighted to join Charlotte Hawkins this morning, but shared he was originally booked in to spend the last two months at the helm until ‘that all went west’ when Piers departed the show in March.
‘I was due to come back in April and May because Piers was going to America, so I would’ve been sitting alongside you quite a lot then, but all that went west,’ Richard said. ‘So here I am.’
The 65-year-old host didn’t have any issues getting up early for the episode though after setting three alarms to make sure he didn’t sleep through.
‘When people know you’re doing ‘Good Morning Britain’ they’revery anxious to know how you make sure you get out of bed on time and what it’s like getting up so early,’ he continued.
‘Personally, I find the stress is the night before setting the alarms. I get very OCD about it. I set the three alarms, I put the lights out and then I think, “Did I really set that? Did it say on?”‘
Richard Madeley is back on Good Morning Britain (Picture: Rex)
Last month, Richard said he is ‘open’ to replacing Piers on the programme and that he believes he suits it.
‘Whether I’m going to be asked to take over, I have no idea. I have had no approach at any level formally or informally,’ he told The Sun.
Piers stepped down from his co-hosting role on Good Morning Britain in March, following controversial comments he made about Meghan Markle after her tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Piers Morgan quit Good Morning Britain in March (Picture: Rex)
ITV confirmed at the time: ‘Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.’
Piers later claimed ITV had asked him to apologise for his comments about Meghan, but he refused and later quit the show.
‘ITV executives suggested to me that I should now issue an apology to calm things down,’ he said. ‘But I don’t believe Meghan, so why would I apologise?
‘As I mused over this conundrum, GMB’s ratings for yesterday came in and were the highest in our history, breaking a new record we set only last week. The show’s on fire, in every sense. But the flames are now raging uncontrollably towards me.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.