Tim Lovejoy explains rift with co-star after Sunday Brunch taken 'off air'

Tim Lovejoy has described his fallout with Helen Chamberlain at the height of their Soccer AM fame. The Channel 4 Sunday Brunch star has spoken out, as his weekly show is taken off air for the Paralympic Games currently being held in Paris in France.

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Tim - who has a new podcast with Helen - discussed their friendship and falling out at the height of Soccer AM, which saw the host the Sky Sports show each and every Saturday morning during the 1990s and 2000s.

Tim said: "I was producing The Big Breakfast when I got the Soccer AM job. The first change I wanted to make was: get rid of Helen. Her job appeared to be linking to commercial breaks about roadworks, which I wasn’t interested in. Then I met her and I realised, “Holy s*** – she knows more about football than I do. We’ve got to keep her.” She was obsessed with lower leagues, passionate, a real fan."

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Tim went on: "I like to say Helen is the first woman of football, as for many she was. She was at the coalface of a male-dominated industry Helen is also such a natural presenter. For the first three months she bailed me out constantly.

"It was a four-hour live show and sometimes it felt like a battle. Because of that intensity, we became like brother and sister. One week, we had an argument about something stupid right before we went live. She couldn’t stand me and I couldn’t stand her. I turned to the camera and said, “We’ve fallen out, by the way, so I’ve no idea what this show is going to be like.”

"All was forgotten 30 minutes later." In the interview, Helen spoke out and denied "hitting on Tim" at Christmas parties. Lovejoy began his television career as a covering VJ for MTV. He then joined Planet 24, working as a researcher for The Big Breakfast before going on to produce the show.