This Morning Cat Deeley's 'replacement' shuts down rumours of taking over ITV job

The star who is said to be in the frame to replace Cat Deeley as one of the main hosts of This Morning, has very publicly denied any link to the top TV job. And that star in none other than Amanda Holden, who addressed the rumours live on her Heart Breakfast show on Thursday.

After a lot of speculation as to who was going to fill the vacant positions left by Phillip Schofield, after his controversial exit from ITV last year and Holly Willoughby, who quit This Morning, with a heavy heart towards the end of last year, former SMTV favourite Cat was officially unveiled as one half of the daytime show's main presenting duo earlier this year, along with Ben Shephard, who left his job as a Good Morning Britain anchor to take on the new role.

Given the popularity of existing This Morning presenters like Alison Hammond, Dermot O'Leary, Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle, not all viewers were happy with Cat and Ben's appointment and there was disappointment for the show when it was lost the Daytime category at the National Television Awards in September, having previously had an unbeaten winning streak.

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Not insiders claim that This Morning bosses could be ready to 'replace' Cat due to viewers not 'warming to her' enough and falling ratings, with Amanda, who has been a guest host on the show before, seen as the frontrunner to take over. However, that now looks very unlikely as Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda tackled the speculation head on, as she hosted Heart Breakfast.

Put on the spot by colleague Ashley Roberts, she said: "First of all, I absolutely love Cat Deeley. Super successful, I've always admired her, she's brilliant. And I hate seeing headlines that I'm taking over from Cat Deeley when I think she's doing such a good job on This Morning."

Amanda added: "I'm sure she is absolutely going nowhere. It is categorically 100% made up. Complete rumours; I am already on the biggest morning show in the country. "