After Dan Walker was announced as the latest celebrity taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, it was only a matter of time before his old foe Piers Morgan chimed in on the news.
And sure enough, it didn’t take the BBC Breakfast host’s former daytime rival long at all to weigh in on the announcement.
Taking to Twitter on Tuesday morning, the former Good Morning Britain anchor hinted that he’ll be watching the new series with added interest.
Retweeting the announcement of Dan’s involvement in Strictly, Piers added: “My Christmas just came early....”
Throughout the five-year stint that Piers presented Good Morning Britain, the two presenters were embroiled in a friendly(-ish) public feud that mostly revolved around their respective viewing figures.
Following Piers’ much-publicised exit from GMB earlier in the year, Dan addressed their rivalry in an interview with The Times.
“Piers and I have had a friendly rivalry, but it has been good for BBC Breakfast and GMB,” he said. “He likes to throw a few insults around, but underneath all the froth I think there is a decent bloke fighting to get out.”
Piers later responded in his Mail On Sunday column, which referenced the man he describes as his “supremely virtuous former breakfast TV show rival Dan ‘Halo’ Walker”.
“Ironically, I’ve always thought that underneath all Dan’s faux saintly froth, there’s a nasty piece of work fighting to get out,” he wrote.
He also claimed that the fact GMB overtook BBC Breakfast for the first (and, so far, only) time in the ratings on what would turn out to be his final day was the “one thing guaranteed [to have Dan] stamping on kittens”.
Dan was announced for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing alongside former Coronation Street star Katie McGlynn on Tuesday.
They join McFly singer Tom Fletcher, comic actor Robert Webb and TV presenter AJ Ododu, CBBC star Rhys Stephenson, Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Sara Davies and Bake Off winner John Whaite, who will make Strictly history as one half of the show’s first-ever all-male partnership.
More names will be announced over the coming days.