Good Morning Britain staff reportedly threatened "to down tools" when they heard former host Piers Morgan was in talks to return as a guest.
The outspoken journalist was reportedly keen for a comeback to to promote his new series - Piers Morgan Uncensored - which launched on Rupert Murdoch's new TalkTV channel tonight (Monday). However GMB staff - who are said to be loyal to weather presenter Alex Beresford - 'threatened to boycott the show', reports the Mirror.
As a compromise, ITV bosses are said to have invited him onto Lorraine instead - but ITV sources insisted this was an "editorial decision" and played down threats of a walkout.
However, one GMB insider told The Mirror: "Piers has made it quite clear what he thinks of GMB since he flounced out. Barely a day goes by without him sniping that ratings are down, and that he was the best thing about the show.
"So it's no surprise there are some who felt reluctant to promote his new gig and threatened to stop working if he came on. There's also a lot of loyalty for Alex."
Piers stormed off the show last year after Alex expressed outrage that the 57-year-old didn't believe The Duchess of Sussex's claim she had felt suicidal. Piers was axed from the show when he refused to apologise. Earlier this week, he claimed the Duchess had written to ITV's chief executive, Dame Carolyn McCall, "demanding my head on a plate".
"I was told, either you issue a public apology for effectively disbelieving Meghan Markle, because I had disbelieved what she had told Oprah Winfrey, or I had to give up the show that I loved," Piers told the BBC's Ros Atkins. "If they (ITV) had defended my right to free speech, then I wouldn't have been asked to apologise or leave my job. Ofcom later came back and defended my right to free speech."
Of his time at GMB, he told Ros that he "felt the show was on fire", saying it created "a national debate about whatever the issues may be". Piers added: "The sadness to me was ITV had always been unbelievably strong in protecting my right to express my honestly held opinions to the end – and then suddenly they lost their bottle."
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