Holly Willoughby may have received mixed reviews for her ‘I’m A Celebrity’ debut, but Monday’s episode saw her shut down critics who claimed she wasn’t funny enough to present alongside Declan Donnelly.
In a move to prove her comedy chops, Holly kicked off the show by parodying her day job on ‘This Morning’.
As the theme tune to the ITV daytime show began playing, Dec turned to her and asked: “What’s in store for us this morning, Holly?”
“Thank you, Dec,” she replied. “Coming up in around 15 minutes, Emily Atack is here to answer the question, ‘How can I conquer my fear of snakes?’ in today’s Bushtucker Trial.
“After that, there’s news from our royal correspondent Harry Redknapp. He’s been chatting to several members of the Windsor family. I’m looking forward to that.
Holly continued: “And I’ll be meeting a man who saves hundreds of pounds a year by wearing children’s clothes.”
“Stop, stop, stop,” Dec interrupted. “That was a private conversation,” he joked.
The gag seemed to go down well with viewers, who were pleased to see Holly taking a more active role in the comedy element of the show, as she stands in for regular co-host Ant McPartlin while he continues his time out of the spotlight.
It also came after ‘I’m A Celebrity’ bosses were forced to speak out against tabloid speculation Holly could be dropped from the show before the end of the series.
The rumours started after bookies slashed the odds of that happening, following the reaction to her debut episode.
However, an ITV spokesperson told Digital Spy claims Holly would leave or be replaced were “absolute rubbish”.
“We are very happy with Holly presenting alongside Dec,” they said.
The ratings have also spoken for themselves, as it was revealed Holly helped bring in a whopping 11 million viewers for Sunday’s launch show.
The figure made it the highest-rated TV show of the year so far (outside of World Cup matches), and also helped ‘I’m A Celebrity’ reach its biggest launch since 2013.
‘I’m A Celebrity’ continues tonight at 9pm on ITV.