As Eamonn Holmes made his way up to the stage in the grand ballroom at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel to accept a gong on behalf of GB News Breakfast, boos from the audience filled the room.
The heckling started the moment that host Dan Walker announced that the show had won a Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) award. It didn’t stop until Eamonn began his speech – after struggling to manoeuvre his way up to the microphone in his wheelchair.
Sources close to the channel insist that the jeers were not directed at Eamonn himself – but at Right-leaning GB News as a whole, after it had seen off rivals at ITV and the BBC.
Even if that is so, I’m told that even Eamonn’s colleagues at the news channel are furious at him for ‘taking the glory’ for the win.
The rest of the breakfast team take umbrage at the fact that, despite hosting the show for only three days of the week – Stephen Dixon presents the other four – it was only Eamonn who spoke, insiders tell me.
The growing discontent also comes amid accusations of a ‘blokey’ culture at GB News breakfast – after host Ellie Costello also missed out on speaking at the awards despite being the co-host of weekday episodes.
Nor was there any sign of breakfast television veteran Anne Diamond, who snubbed the ceremony on Wednesday altogether, despite being the show’s weekend co-host.
Insiders tell me: ‘It was all about Eamonn – again. Winners had a limited amount of time to talk before Dan Walker took their microphone away – and Eamonn kept talking until that moment came.
‘Stephen hosts more days than Eamonn yet there was absolutely no regard for him, or for Ellie or Anne.
‘It was “me, me, me” as far as Eamonn was concerned. Others felt that they didn’t get any credit. There are a lot of people who put a lot of work in – not that you would have known it.
‘It made people’s blood boil. You wonder what would have happened if Anne had been there – she’s been around as long as Eamonn and is also a TV legend.’
Indeed, Eamonn joined GB News to much fanfare back in 2022 after being sacked from Good Morning on ITV after bosses tired of him.
It is understood that the Ulsterman, 65, earns more than any of his fellow hosts on the breakfast show, due to his long career in daytime television. Some sources suggest his yearly salary is over £300,000.
But, I’m told, there are moves afoot at GB News to de-throne Eamonn.
‘Some people at GB News utterly despise him,’ says my source. ‘They feel he is dead wood. He might be loved by the viewers but it is a different story in some quarters behind the scenes.’
Eamonn is chaffeured to and from the GB News studios from his ‘bachelor pad’ in Kingston, Surrey, and is wheeled on to set. Bosses at the network have supported Eamonn with his mobility struggles following a double hip replacement and surgery for three slipped spinal discs, which has left him with little feeling in his lower back. In 2023, Eamonn revealed that he ‘could no longer walk or look after himself’.
‘Some of the bosses want to look after Eamonn at any cost,’ says one source. ‘They will do whatever they need to do to get him in front of the camera.’
Eamonn, too, is happy with his arrangement at the channel. And friends tell me that he does ‘really need the money’ due to a long-running tax battle with HMRC over his claims he worked as a freelancer.
Last year he was forced to sell his second home in Belfast to pay off a portion of his bill and Eamonn has claimed the taxman has ‘taken everything’ from him.
Meanwhile, Eamonn has been going through what I’m told is becoming a ‘slightly tricky’ divorce from ex-wife and former co-host Ruth Langsford. Although his girlfriend Katie Alexander, 22 years his junior, has given him reason to smile throughout.
Events on Wednesday at the Grosvenor House Hotel come after a torrid few weeks for GB News – and in particular, its breakfast show.
At the weekend, the Mail on Sunday revealed that an HR probe is underway after a young female producer was left bruised after being hit by Eamonn Holmes’s wheelchair on set. GB News have been desperate to stop the story from becoming public, unsuccessfully hiring lawyers to gag the Press.
Last month, there was yet more drama when Eamonn, 65, fell off his chair while interviewing commentator Charlie Rowley live on air.
Charlie watched in horror as Eamonn tumbled to the ground. While the fall was off-screen, a crash could be heard as Eamonn’s co-host Ellie gasped.
And weeks before that there were concerns for Eamonn after he went missing while the show was on air, leaving viewers understandably concerned.
Forty minutes before the end of the programme, he disappeared from his desk and didn’t return before the show wrapped up, leaving Ellie to anchor alone. The incident has still not been explained.
And at the end of January, Eamonn’s long-serving sidekick – and friend – Isabel Webster was sensationally axed from her job. Eamonn was accused of being the hand behind her sacking but sources insisted that ex-Sky News host Isabel’s shock exit was prompted by a secret feud with her employees over her working hours. The presenter ‘wasn’t happy’ that the channel’s senior chiefs were expecting her to increase her days on-screen from three to five a week and ‘refused to bow to demands’.
While Eamonn is still looked upon fondly by GB News bosses, insiders tell me some have been looking with particular interest at ITV’s This Morning host Richard Madeley – and were excited after ITV announced a shakeup of its daytime television, which sees a number of its hosts at risk of redundancy.
Another option would be for Stephen Dixon to take over Eamonn’s weekday shifts. But as one insider points out: ‘Eamonn is a survivor, he has weathered many a storm during his long, long career. Don’t write him off… yet.’
