Eamonn Holmes has stuck the boot into the new generation of UK television presenters, arguing they should never be given airtime.
The 57-year-old, who has more than 40 years of presenting experience, claims TV execs are giving too many prime time jobs to reality show stars.
However, Eamonn was quick to defend his ‘This Morning’ colleague Rylan Clark-Neal, who shot to fame after appearing on ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Celebrity Big Brother’.
Eamonn told the Daily Express: “He’s a very intelligent lad, he knows his business very, very well.
“But for every Rylan there are 99 others that just should never have been on the box ever in the first place.
“Unfortunately we’ve got this trend where it seems to be as long as people are famous or as long as they’ve come through reality TV, a lot of executives think, ‘Well that’s good enough, you should be on and you should anchor’.
“The demise of local television where you just get, ‘It’s network or nothing’, doesn’t help getting the best presenters.”
Stars who have made the crossover from reality TV to presenting include ‘TOWIE’ star Ferne McCann, who went on to land herself a presenting job on ‘This Morning’.
After winning ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’, Geordie Shore’s Vicky Pattison bagged herself a presenting role on the jungle-based show’s spin-off ‘Extra Camp’.
Last year’s ‘I’m A Celeb’ champ, Gogglebox’s Scarlett Moffatt, has done even better, with a regular spot on ‘Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’. She’s also set to front a reboot of the dating show ‘Streetmate’ and is filming a pilot show with Alan Carr for Channel 4.
Meanwhile, ‘Apprentice’ star Saira Khan, who first appeared on ‘The Apprentice’, and Katie Price are both regulars on ‘Loose Women’, often appearing alongside Eamonn’s wife, Ruth Langsford.
Awks.