‘Amanda has nothing against Holly… but she despises Phil!’ Sources says the background to BGT’s Amanda Holden ‘mocking’ Holly Willoughby’s This Morning isn’t quite as it seems
- Read more: Can Holly Willoughby move on from This Morning scandal?
The video of Amanda Holden seemingly mocking Holly Willoughby has been ‘taken out of context’, sources have claimed.
The Heart FM presenter, 52, was met with criticisms on Tuesday after she appeared to poke fun at Ms Willoughby’s comeback speech – mimicking her address to This Morning viewers in a video on Instagram.
The clip prompted fans to believe the two ITV stars do not get on – but yesterday the Britain’s Got Talent judge insisted she ‘has no issues with Holly’.
However, a source told The Daily Mail: ‘Amanda has long despised Phillip. She was due to step in for Holly while she was hosting I’m A Celeb in 2018 but he blocked it.’
Springwatch fans also thought Michaela Strachan, 57, was mocking Ms Willoughby yesterday as she said: ‘Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you OK? I hope so.’
She told co-host Chris Packham: ‘There’s a lot to process’ – another line from Ms Willoughby’s speech – after a fox stole a chick.
The video of Amanda Holden seemingly mocking Holly Willoughby has been ‘taken out of context’ and she ‘has no issues with Holly’, sources have claimed. Ms Holden is pictured on Tuesday at Global Radio
Fans pointed out that Ms Holden’s £350 white crepe jumpsuit from label Me + Em even resembled Holly Willoughby’s Reiss dress that she wore for her TV return. Ms Willoughby (right) is pictured on This Morning on Monday alongside Josie Gibson (left)
The insider did allege that Ms Holden has ‘long despised’ Phillip Schofield (pictured)
Both Ms Holden and Ms Strachan appeared to send up Ms Willoughby after she returned to the ITV sofa to address Phillip Schofield’s exit, saying: ‘Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you OK? I hope so.’
In a white designer outfit, Ms Holden asked her 2million Instagram followers: ‘Hello, it is Tuesday. Are you OK?’
Her £350 white crepe jumpsuit from label Me + Em even resembled Ms Willoughby’s Reiss dress that she wore for her TV return.
The video prompted fans to think Ms Holden and her fellow ITV star were at war.
Later during her Heart FM radio show, Ms Holden, 52, cackled: ‘I’m OK people, are you OK?’ when she was joking about a guest with co-host Jamie Theakston.
When talking about doing the show hungover, the day before, Mr Theakston, 52, asked her how she was feeling.
She said: ‘I got home, got straight into bed with my dog and cat. I got up, cooked the tea and went back to bed again at 8.
‘I did that thing where you wake up at 2 and you have to talk yourself back into going to sleep.’
‘I’m OK people, are you OK?’ Giggling Amanda Holden poked fun at Holly Willoughby’s comeback statement TWCE on Tuesday and mimicked her look in a white ensemble
Similar outfit: Holly, wearing a white dress, opened her comeback monologue on This Morning on Monday by asking viewers if they were OK, and was accused of being melodramatic
‘Where’s the coffee?’: Amanda was not feeling OK on Monday’s show as she presented it hungover on two hours sleep after celebrating the BGT final
Mr Theakston interjected: ‘We’re worried about your well-being,’ while talking to another guest.
Ms Holden replied: ‘I’m OK people, are you OK?’ before cackling loudly.
A spokesperson for Ms Holden told MailOnline: ‘Amanda has always made it clear in the past she has no issues with Holly. Today’s video has been taken out of context.’
But Ms Holden wasn’t the only person sticking the boot in to Holly.
Springwatch fans were convinced that presenter Ms Strachan, 57, was taking a jibe at her expense on Tuesday’s show, which is live.
Ms Strachan mimicked Ms Willoughby’s monologue when she made a similar statement following a clip of a fox stealing a blackbird chick from a nest.
Standing alongside co-host Mr Packham, 62, Ms Strachan said: ‘Everyone was on the edge of their seats watching that, how is everyone feeling?
‘There is a lot to process isn’t there? Emotions are all over the place.’
Fans noticed the similarity with Ms Willoughby’s words and took to Twitter to express their surprise.
They wrote: ‘Michela Strachan trolling Holly Willoughby on #springwatch was easily the highlight of today.’
‘@BBCSpringwatch #michaela using the how you feeling, a lot to process analogy much better and much more relatable than #Holly #thismorning #foxgetsblackbird #fox #blackbird #circleoflife.’
‘This is a cheeky dig at Holly:’ Springwatch’s Michaela Strachan shocked fans as she appeared to ‘troll’ This Morning presenter over her comeback statement on Monday’s show
‘Cheeky dig!’ Many viewers noticed the moment and took to Twitter to note the observation
When does it end? An MP today poked fun at Holly Willoughby’s on-air statement on her return to This Morning, asking a senior ITV official at a Commons select committee: ‘Are you OK?’
Holly’s monologue in full…
‘Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you ok? I hope so.’
She stated it ‘feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have. Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions’.
‘All of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process’.
She added: ‘It’s equally hard to see the toll it’s taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone.
‘I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that the show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.
‘And from the heart, can I just say thank you for all your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every day.’
‘Did Michaela just do a Holly Willoughby with ‘How’s everyone feeling? It’s a lot to process’? #SpringWatch.’
‘Maybe a cheeky dig at Holly W? ‘How are you feeling after that, it was a lot to process..’ #SpringWatch.’
Moreover, an MP today poked fun at Ms Willoughby’s on-air statement on her return to This Morning, asking a senior ITV official at a Commons select committee: ‘Are you OK?’.
Scottish National Party MP John Nicholson questioned Magnus Brooke, ITV’s director of strategy, policy and regulation, about work culture at This Morning in the hearing.
The MP also criticised This Morning editor Martin Frizell over his ‘surreal and bizarre’ answer to questions about bullying in which he talked about aubergines. Mr Brooke said the comments were ‘ill-judged’ and refused to say if the editor’s job was safe.
Earlier in the Culture, Media and Sport Committee session, chair Caroline Dinenage had insisted that today would be about the Draft Media Bill – and not This Morning.
She said they would instead wait to discuss issues about Mr Schofield leaving the show when ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall is before MPs next week on June 14.
Ms Willoughby also said in the original statement that it ‘feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have.
‘Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions’.
‘All of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process’.
Tears: Holly looked visibly emotional as she addressed the cameras with a monologue about her former best friend Phillip
TV presenter Phillip spoke to the BBC’s Amol Rajan last week about his affair with a much younger colleague
Happy as Larry: Amanda looked pretty pleased with herself when she left the studios later that day
She added: ‘It’s equally hard to see the toll it’s taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone.
‘I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that the show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.
‘And from the heart, can I just say thank you for all your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every day.’
It comes after Mr Schofield said he ‘didn’t tell anybody’ about his affair with his former This Morning colleague, confirming in a tell-all interview with BBC’s Amol Rajan that Willoughby ‘did not know’.
Ms Willoughby’s return comes as the ITV show has been plagued by allegations of ‘toxicity’, including from former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes who has alleged there was a ‘total cover-up’ over the Schofield affair.
Ms Holden previously said she believes that in 2018, Mr Schofield sabotaged her chances of filling in on This Morning while Ms Willoughby hosted I’m A Celeb.
Rochelle Humes landed the presenting job while Mr Schofield’s regular co-host Ms Willoughby took over Ant McPartlin’s hosting duties for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here.
The calm before the storm: Phillip and Holly on the sofa of ITV’s This Morning last month, on May 11
Family: Phillip with his wife Stephanie Lowe and daughters Molly and Ruby in London in 2018
Fall out: Phillip has already apologised to Holly, who presented This Morning with him for 14 years, for lying about his secret relationship with his colleague (centre) and for tainting her public image
In a resurfaced video, Ms Holden was questioned about her feud with Mr Schofield by her Heart Radio co-star Mr Theakston.
As he tried to approach the subject, Ms Holden told him: ‘I’ve moved on from it, Jamie, you need to move on from it.’
Pressing further, he quizzed: ‘You might have moved on but I just wanted to know, is there any more to the story?’
Ms Holden told Mr Theakston she had tried to reach out to Mr Schofield, but her attempts to arrange a meet up to clear the air were ignored.
READ MORE HERE: The lie got too big for both of us, says crestfallen Phillip Schofield in an interview laying bare his torment
She said: ‘I did offer to meet him for a coffee months ago, he didn’t reply to my text. What can I say?’
‘The olive branch had been extended?’, Mr Theakston asked.
In reference to Taylor Swift and Katy Perry amending their friendship after a public falling out by dressing as burger and fries in her music video You Need To Calm Down, Mr Theakston asked if Ms Holden if she and Mr Schofield would have a ‘burger and fries’ moment.
Ms Holden said: ‘I doubt it. I’m a vegetarian Jamie.’
According to The Sun, Ms Holden reportedly expressed she felt ‘let down’ by her friend Mr Schofield when she found out she didn’t get the position and it went to Rochelle.
She had previously filled in for Ms Willoughby when the This Morning star took a year off the show to have her third child, Chester, now seven, in October 2014.
A former daytime TV executive previously told The Sun: ‘Phillip actively campaigned for Rochelle to get the job despite Amanda being more experienced – and having been told privately she’d got the gig.’
An ITV spokesperson later insisted that Rochelle’s casting was a decision made by producers, telling MailOnline: ‘Presenter line ups on This Morning change regularly and final decisions on these line ups are made by producers and not the presenters.
They said at the time: ‘Phillip Schofield is a much loved broadcaster and part of the ITV family. He is a consummate professional and held in high regard at ITV. Amanda is also held in high regard as a judge on one of our biggest shows.’
During their time co-hosting the morning show, Mr Schofield confessed he found working alongside Ms Holden was ‘occasionally quite scary’.
He told Heat magazine at the time: ‘Amanda kept me on my toes. She has a faulty edit button and she forgets she’s on the telly, which is enormously endearing and funny, but occasionally quite scary.’
After Mr Schofield stepped down from This Morning, Ms Holden posted a strongman emoji on Instagram in what appeared to be a sign of celebration.
She did not caption the post as she remained mysterious about its meaning.
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