Inside Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan's 23-year Big Breakfast feud

It was a sad day on March 29, 2002 – the end of Nineties TV staple the Big Breakfast.

The Channel 4 daily show, which was aired live from a real house in Bow, east London, and had the presenters lounged on a bed, sparked some of the decade’s most memorable telly moments.

It was a more light-hearted option to GMTV and was hugely successful.

Famous presenters included Paula Yates – no one will ever forget that fateful interview with Michael Hutchence – Chris Evans, Zoe Ball, Gaby Roslin and of course, the dream team Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan.

The pair were TV gold and one of the Big Breakfast’s best double acts – and best friends to boot… But then it all went horribly wrong.

So to commemorate 20 years since Big Breakfast left the airwaves, here’s all you need to know about the pair’s famous – and very long – feud.

Denise and Johnny’s on-screen chemistry was legendary and totally encapsulated the Nineties lads’ mag culture.

But the pairing was actually an accident.

In September 1997, Essex girl Denise had been brought in to cover traffic and travel and Johnny was covering for Rick Adams.

The combination of Denise’s blokey charm and Johnny’s quick wit was an instant hit.

In fact, their dynamic was so good that producers made them regulars and Denise and Johnny got on so well that rumours swirled that they even were romantically involved.

Denise, who was dating Jay Kay from Jamiroquai at the time, previously said: “Everyone expected we had a little thing going on.

“But I think the reason we could take it so far and flirt so much on TV was that we were both in very secure relationships.”

Johnny, 55, was in a relationship with costume designer Antonia Davies.

Denise and Johnny’s reign over breakfast telly lasted two years but by 1999 Denise had abruptly left – and no one knew why.

Despite bosses drafting in other presenters – such as Kelly Brook – to replace her, the spark just wasn’t there and the show merely limped along as ratings dropped.

Denise, 47, went on to pursue an acting career and Johnny left for the BBC – it’s reported the broadcaster paid him a staggering £2.5million to do so.

In 2017 Denise finally opened up about why she and Johnny fell out – and surprise, surprise, it turns out it was over money.

She found out that Johnny and his agent were negotiating a contract separate from her.

Speaking on Loose Women, she said: “At that time we were like brother and sister. We were best friends, unbreakable.

“The whole relationship fell apart when we started to renegotiate our contracts because I always felt we worked together as a team and that’s how it should be. We created it together.

“Not just us but the rest of the team working on the show. I always had that mentality that it was about all of us. But Johnny and I know there are other influences involved, and agents and everything — but he was negotiating separately from me.”

Denise said she confronted him and realised that their friendship had “gone in two different directions” and was now “tarnished”, so she quit.

Denise briefly returned as lead presenter in 2000 after a string of unsuccessful replacements but “a similar thing happened again”, she said.

She went on: “It’s hard because I loved him so much and I still do.

“I could still be angry about it now, but I have seen him since and, whenever I see him, because I love him so much and he makes me laugh so much, more than anyone I’ve ever met, I just forget about it.

“We were really, really good friends, I just don’t know if it would ever be the same again.”

In 2008, the pair were reunited on Capital Radio in the hope of rekindling that chemistry – but again, it ended in disaster.

Denise accused Johnny of turning her mic down whenever she tried to speak and of refusing to acknowledge her as a presenter.

She told the Daily Mail: “I was on the other side of the desk. He had control of the desk and when I would go to speak he would fade my microphone down.”

Dad-of-three Johnny denied the claims and said that he didn’t even know how to operate any of the “machines” in radio.

He did, however, admit that radio can be a tougher gig than TV or theatre as “you don’t see an audience” so can be “a bit of a downer” and that he could have helped Denise more.

So they fell out for another seven years.

On a recent podcast, Denise, mum to Betsy, 11, said that they had started talking again during lockdown.

She said: “We’ve been on-and-off as friends for years for various reasons.

“I’ve got a lot of love for him as a person, as a friend, and I’m sure he feels the same.

“And we’ve started sort of talking again and we’ve started thinking of maybe some little ideas, so you never know.”

So watch this space!

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk