Your round-up of this week’s biggest showbiz stories
WORDS: ARIANA LONGSON. PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK, ITV, CHANNEL 4, SPLASH, ALAMY, BBC, GETTY, INSTAGRAM @DAVINAMCCALL
AlisonTO LEAVE ITV?
This Morning’s Alison Hammond has landed a new gig with the BBC that will see her front her own series, Alison Hammond’s Big Weekend. So is the presenter slowly cutting ties with ITV?
The former Big Brother star has had several jobs away from the channel, and the new show proves that the 49-year-old is well on her way to achieving telly domination outside the network. And it seems her latest gig is a dream come true. Last year, Alison told Woman’s Own how she’d love to have her own show, explaining, ‘I’ve always got plans, things I want to do next. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked for my own show. I want a show called Alison. It might get to the point where I just make it myself!’ And now her vision is finally becoming a reality.
News of Alison’s show, which won’t air until 2025 and will see the presenter spend 48 hours with some of the UK’s best-loved celebrities, comes just a month after she was ‘snubbed’ by ITV bosses when Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard bagged the main This Morning gig.
While the mum of one later cleared things up, saying, ‘I live in Birmingham and do Bake Off and For the Love of Dogs. I never wanted that job,’ could her new contract with the channel’s rival be a telling sign? After all, last year we reported that bosses at ITV were keen to lock Alison into a ‘golden handcuffs’ deal that would prevent her from working on any other channel. So, has ITV fallen out of favour with the star?
CLAIRE’S NEW MAN
Her stint on Dancing on Ice may not have seen her lift the trophy, but it seems Claire Sweeney has gained something else from her time on the show. The Corrie star, 53, was spotted cosying up with fellow contestant Ricky Hatton – and now it’s been revealed that the pair have been ‘dating for weeks’ and that their chemistry is ‘electric’. A source revealed, ‘They’ve been out on several dates [and] been seeing each other quite a bit,’ before adding that the former boxer, 45, is ‘completely besotted’.
Fears for Ruth & Eamonn
TV power couple Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, both 64, have sparked concerns that they could be living different lives, as fans pointed out that they haven’t been seen
