Holmes Replaced

‘IT may take a crane to prise Eamonn Holmes from the GMTV sofa, but if that’s what it’ll take, then that’s what it’ll take.

Eamonn has had no shortage of job offers

For the portly host will disappear from our screens after 13 years of getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning.

However, the papers are split over whether Holmes jumped or whether he was pushed.

The Star says the 45-year-old wants to spend more time with his four children as well as concentrating on his other broadcasting projects.

”After 13 years of 4am starts, he just needs a rest,” his spokesman says.

But the Mail says the Belfast-born presenter was forced out after bosses called his bluff over his pay demands.

Holmes was apparently certain that GMTV executives would agree to a 10% pay increase from £450,000 to £495,000 when his three-year contract came up for renewal next month.

But they dug their heels in, the paper says, after realising that the show’s ratings didn’t suffer when he and co-presenter Fiona Phillips were away on holiday.

”Holmes,” it says, ”who is famously prickly, not least in relation to references to his ballooning weight, will now concentrate on BBC shows.”

Like The Return Of Mr Blobby…’

Posted: 23rd, February 2005 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink