Phillip Schofield has stepped away from the This Morning sofa and ITV are working out who to partner with Holly Willoughby. We check out the latest odds including a surprising favourite…
When it became clear a vacancy was about to open up, two names shot to the top of most people’s thoughts and they were already very much part of the This Morning presenting family. Both Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary are still right near the top of the betting market but a 52-year-old veteran presenter is the 5/2 favourite. That man is Craig Doyle.
The Irishman has been part of the This Morning team for a couple of years usually presenting competitions. He currently is best known for presenting Rugby Union on BT Sport but has worked on the BBC and ITV in sports coverage throughout his career. He stood in this week for Josie Gibson alongside Willoughby and clearly did enough to impress some viewers and our traders.
If you are looking for the obvious choice however it will be Dermot O’Leary. He has presented some of the biggest shows on TV and has plenty of experience of live television having been the Friday host of this show and being the front man for The X Factor during its glory years. His work on Big Brother’s Little Brother and T4 may be the best part of two decades ago but he was flat out brilliant. He and Willoughby are very good friends and they would make an excellent pairing going forward. He’s 3/1.
At the same price is Rylan Clark who had a stint fronting the show last August alongside Ruth Langsford. He’s another person who would likely have strong chemistry with the remaining host but might struggle with two very experienced names also in the running.
Alison Hammond was the early favourite at 7/4 but we are now offering odds of 4/1 that the former Big Brother star and current Friday presenter of the show (alongside O’Leary) gets the permanent gig. She had the credentials to get the job but her chances seem to be drifting. Josie Gibson is also available at 4s but that feels like a longshot.
Ben Shephard is the final presenter that has odds of shorter than 10/1 with the Good Morning Britain presenter a very capable pair of hands. Anyone beyond him would be a big shock but it feels like the job is O’Leary’s or Hammond’s to me. A promotion for either would make an awful lot of sense and it is the former X Factor host who is the person I’d expect to get the job full-time.
