Richard Madeley says he has ‘no reason to expect’ GMB job offer despite upcoming stint
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Richard Madeley, 65, has insisted that despite mounting speculation that he is set to replace Piers Morgan, 56, on Good Morning Britain following his explosive exit from the show, the journalist has “no reason to expect” a job offer from ITV bosses. The presenter spoke out on the rumours in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, insisting that his upcoming stint as a guest host on GMB is “not a trial” ahead of him being given Piers’ old seat alongside Susanna Reid.
He divulged: “It’s literally the truth that I have not had a phone call or an email or anything from anyone, either on the programme, or from ITV.
“It seems to me it’s quite obvious that, quite rightly, and very sensibly, they’re trying people out.
“They tried out Alastair Campbell, I thought he did really good interviews. It’s nice to see a grown-up there.
“He’s a proper journo and has spent half of his career on newspapers, and that was good to see, so I think he did jolly well.
“I’m going in in June, but it’s not a trial because I’ve already done it dozens of times. I’m just going in to fill in, I’m just doing a few days in June.”
He added: “I don’t think there’s any significance to that, it’s just now that the Covid restrictions are lifting a bit and they’re allowing more presenters in, it’s just me going back to what I did before, which is to fill in.”
Despite his protestations, Richard went on to reveal that if GMB producers did ask him to replace Piers, he would take the offer “very seriously”.
The presenter continued: “Yes, if they were to ask me, I would take that very seriously and I would think about it very seriously.
“But they haven’t asked me and I have no reason to expect them to, although I’ve seen the bookies’ odds and I’ve seen, you know, the opinion polls and I seem to feature in them.
“Well that’s nothing to do with reality, you know, the reality is it’s a contract.
“It’s not an opinion poll and it’s not bookies’ favourites you know that’s not real.”
Richard continued to say that he is not letting the rumour mill affect him.
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The host added: “You can’t let that kind of thing, frankly, make you take yourself seriously, because that’s fatal.
“We’ll just see, we’ll just see what happens.
“But at the moment, there’s absolutely nothing on the table and I’m just filling in.”
Richard went on to say he won’t be trying to emulate Piers’ outspoken presenting style when he fronts the show temporarily this month.
He shared: “When I go and do it simply temporarily, it’s a temporary filling, I’ll do it the way I do it and the way I’ve always done it and will be absolutely me.
“I certainly won’t be pretending to be Piers. You just want authenticity don’t you? You just want to feel like people are talking to you on a level and not pretending to be something that they’re not.”
Piers presented Good Morning Britain for five years alongside his former co-host Susanna, but left after sparking over 57,000 Ofcom complaints over comments he made about Meghan Markle.
He has since been replaced by various co-presenters including Ben Shephard and Adil Ray.
Richard is said to be the bookies’ favourite to replace the controversial host permanently, after stepping in for him many times previously.
Piers has since said he doesn’t know what he will do next following his exit from the programme.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
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