Over the past year This Morning has been plagued by a series of off-screen dramas, which have seen viewing figures plummet as the staple daytime show descended into chaos following the likes of “queue-gate” and Phillip Schofield’s scandalous affair.
And with new co-hosts Ben Shepherd and Cat Deeley taking over the helm from Phil and Holly Willoughby, there was no doubt that the pair would need to steer both cast and crew through a storm of toxicity that was reported to have been brewing on and off screen.
Now, while viewers nostalgic for the ’90s were delighted by former SMTV presenter Cat’s debut alongside Good Morning Britain stalwart Ben last month, a source reveals to Closer that cracks are already beginning to appear in the relationship between the show’s stars – most notably Cat, 47, and Alison Hammond, 49.
Alison – who is currently covering Ben and Cat’s slot alongside Dermot O’Leary, 50, while they take a break – was famously close to her former colleague Holly. But insiders say she’s struggling to form a bond with Cat. “Alison isn’t very keen on her,” our insider revealed.
“She finds her a bit standoffish and not particularly warm. She gets on so well with the rest of the crew on This Morning, that it’s taken her aback a little to not bond as brilliantly with Cat.”
Our source continued, “Alison feels like there isn’t that warmth from Cat and so she’s keeping away when Cat is in the studio. If Alison likes you she’s all over you, but if she doesn’t, she’ll keep her distance.”
Alison had been fronting the ITV daytime show for some months alongside Holly after Phillip left last year. Working her way up through the ranks on the show over the years, Alison started out as a celebrity reporter before becoming a main host, and many fans were shocked that she didn’t get the gig over Cat.
Taking to social media last week, one commented that she and Dermot “should have been given the full-time position, they are fab.”
While another added, “Thank God it’s these two again… the new two make me switch off.”
Meanwhile, while it was reported that it took Alison and Dermot time to form a close bond with each other, our insider says Ben and Cat – who previously worked alongside Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly – have been struggling to find a connection.
On his decision to leave GMB after 19 years, Ben, 49, said of his former co-star Kate Garraway, “One of the hardest decisions of course is knowing that my mornings with Kate, my on-screen wife of nearly 20 years, are coming to an end.”
And now the source says Ben feels his attempts to build a new on-screen relationship with Cat haven’t hit the ground running.
They add, “Ahead of their debut Ben was keen to reach out to Cat to start things off on the right foot, but Cat can be quite distant and there isn’t the on-screen chemistry like Ben had with Kate Garraway on GMB. There isn’t that connection with Ben, or Alison, at this point.”