Eamonn Holmes has had a stormy six months since it emerged he was leaving ITV ’s This Morning after 15 years as a regular host, mostly alongside wife Ruth Langsford.
Since then he has joined GB News on the breakfast show, almost had an emergency back operation and launched a new BBC cookery show with contestants who have since become close pals.
Eamonn, 62, says life is good despite his frustration at not being told why he was being canned by ITV and the pain he has endured with three slipped discs.
What went wrong at ITV – was it the comment about 5G masts being linked to coronavirus?
"It’s never been mentioned to me. If that was the case, at least that would be a reason. And if Dame EasyJet [ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall, ex-chief exec of EasyJet] had wanted an apology or some sort of explanation, fine. But she never picked up the phone and asked me.
"I’ve never had any communication with Dame Carolyn McCall. And I still stand by those remarks because not once did I say 5G spreads coronavirus.
"I said that as reporters, we should always question the narrative.
"And that has never been more obvious than under the No10 regime that has existed from then and beyond."
So you didn’t quit for GB News?
"The department of disinformation at ITV can put out all the lies they want.
"I wish somebody would show me the email or the letter or that I was sent to say, ‘Eamonn, this is why this is coming to an end’. But to tell lies, that I left them to go to GB News...I didn’t – they left me. Let’s get it straight. They left me. I don’t care, because our audience is only up."
Should they have kept you?
"You have no right to be there. TV companies can do whatever they want with you. It’s just, sometimes it surprises you, the ones they hold on to."
A spokesperson for ITV said: “This isn’t a version of events that we recognise and as we have said before we wish Eamonn all of the very best.”
Do you ever watch This Morning?
"No. It would be too... sensitive. I mean, I spend every day going out on the street and people saying, ‘Why are you and Ruth not on any more?’"
Any TV projects planned for you and Ruth together?
"Ruth is now phenomenally successful as a fashion designer for QVC. She is the second highest selling clothing brand on QVC internationally.
"She spends her time agonising over detail and plans and designs – it must be like being married to Victoria Beckham, you know? It’s all-consuming really."
How was it moving to GB News?
"The first day I walked in, the newsroom stood up and applauded me and I was very taken aback by that. It meant something to them that I was there.
In six months the audience has gone up sixfold, I’ve got two award nominations, so that hasn’t been too bad for someone that’s male, pale and stale.
"For the record, Eamonn doesn’t feel any of those things."
How are your hips and your back?
"My hips are fine. Seven years ago I had a bilateral hip operation – two hips replaced at once – and that went well.
"The problem I’ve had for the last 18 months is discs that have dislocated in my back and protruded on both sides. On my right they killed my sciatic nerve in my leg. Then they dislodged on my left side, so last month it was an unexpected hospital admission in Belfast."
Did they operate?
"Your spine is a very delicate thing and if there’s any chance it could go wrong, they shy away. I was scheduled for emergency surgery but in the operating theatre the surgeon thought again, and said, ‘I’m not going to do this’."
So what now?
"Instead they inject you with steroids, put these very long needles into your spine. Surgery hasn’t been ruled out, but the steroids mean that you can’t feel the problem any more.
"I’m walking about better than I have in ages. I’m not using a crutch or a stick. And I genuinely feel good."
Did it affect your work?
"I was at my worst when we made Farm to Feast [on BBC1] last summer. I had crutches, and every time there was a shot with me I threw them aside, but I couldn’t balance. But I just soldier through."
You enjoyed making it?
"What the world needs is another cookery programme, you know? (Laughs.) There’s a bit of Countryfile in it, the cooking, the rivalry, and what was absolutely beautiful for me was the seven contestants and me.
"We were all strangers, and we came together on that programme and we have remained friends – we have our WhatsApp group and we go to each other’s houses. I mean, it’s brilliant having friends who are cooks."
So the contestants are your new best friends?
"They all have other jobs, they're quantity surveyors, one's an ophthalmic surgeon, one's a civil servant, an estate agent.
"One works in Tesco stacking shelves and we've all become very, very close and it's never happened to me before on a programme.
"I think it's because it was filmed in Northern Ireland. I’m going to somebody's wedding in a couple of weeks! I mean, that's been quite unique for me."
Don’t you fancy doing more of this kind of TV?
"Yeah, but it depends what pays the bills. I could see myself working on Countryfile or something...being the new John Craven. I was a farming reporter for two years."
How are you enjoying being back on a breakfast show at GB News?
"You know, the audience has increased sixfold since I’ve been there. We’re lucky we’ve got a recognition with TRIC [the Television and Radio Industries Club, which hosts annual awards] in two nominations."
Don’t you want to scream when that 2.30am alarm goes off?
"The early starts don’t get any easier. I leave the house about 3.30, I get down there about 4.30, we’re on air at 6 until 9.30. I can’t pretend it’s easy, but it’s breakfast and waking people up."
How are your ratings doing?
"We’re getting 80,000 or so. News is pretty depressing and it’s a big responsibility to deliver it well, and to deliver it in a neutral way. Isabel Webster, who presents it with me, that’s what we do.
"It’s a pity there is a sort of boycott on advertising at GB News, which is stopping a lot of things happening."
Would you work at ITV again?
"There’s one or two people that would have to not be there... But of course. I don’t care who I work for as long as I’m working."
So, overall, life is good?
"I suppose the older I get, the more I want to be home [in Belfast]. But having said that I’ve got too much to do. I’ve got to be where the work is. I’ve got my steroid injections and I’m still going. Life’s not bad."
*Farm to Feast: Best Menu Wins, BBC1, Saturdays, 11.30am
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