Piers Morgan has hit back at his former daytime rival Dan Walker, after remarks the BBC Breakfast star made about him during a recent interview.
Throughout the five-year stint that Piers presented Good Morning Britain, the two presenters were embroiled in a friendly(-ish) feud that mostly revolved around their respective viewing figures.
Following Piers’ much-publicised exit from GMB last month, Dan told The Times: “Piers and I have had a friendly rivalry, but it has been good for BBC Breakfast and GMB.
“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 has now responded in his Mail On Sunday column, which references 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”.
Addressing Dan’s comment that “five years in second place must hurt a bit”, Piers added: “It did, yes. But fortunately, Mr Walker, your poodle-like simpering with government ministers single-handedly gifted me the gold medal and cured the pain.”
It was announced over the weekend that, following Piers’ exit from GMB, relief presenter Adil Ray would be filling in for him for the rest of April.
However, we can safely assume it won’t be a permanent appointment – at least, for the time being.
Despite the highly controversial nature of Piers’ GMB exit, ITV chief Kevin Lygo recently suggested the divisive presenter was irreplaceable on the daytime show.
Quite how Piers would feel about having Adil occupying his former seat remains to be seen, as the two famously clashed on Twitter in 2019 when the latter made a joke about the former while guest hosting Have I Got News For You.