ITV Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid speaks out on Holly Willoughby’s This Morning exit

Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid has offered her thoughts on Holly Willoughby’s departure from This Morning in a new interview.

Holly stood down from the ITV show in October after a plot to kidnap and murder her was foiled by police. Accused Gavin Plumb, however, has pleaded not guilty to charges of soliciting murder and incitement to commit kidnap and will face trial in June next year.

Now, after Holly confirmed she will return to screens in January as she resumes her Dancing On Ice duties alongside Stephen Mulhern, Susanna says she “doesn’t blame” the mother-of-three for taking a break.

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Speaking to woman&home, Susanna said: “Holly has made her decision, and who can blame her? It was a very challenging thing to have to handle and deal with.”

She continued: “I used to see her very occasionally, as even though they’re in the studio next door, they’re on at a different time. Over the past year, the times I’ve seen her she’s been her typical, normal, smiling, bright, happy, strong self.”

Susanna, 53, went on to describe Holly as “an exceptional, clever, funny, brilliant presenter” before pondering her potential This Morning successors. In recent months ITV bosses have experimented with a variety of stand-ins including Emma Willis, Rylan Clark, Josie Gibson, Cat Deeley and Craig Doyle.

“Whoever takes over at This Morning will have a brilliant time,” she added. “It’s a total legend of a programme and I sit alongside Richard Madeley, who launched the show in 1988 with Judy Finnigan. It’s such a successful programme and it’s important who presents [it], but the main ingredient is the viewers.”

Holly’s return was confirmed on Thursday by Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment commissioning at ITV. She said: “Holly and Stephen are two of our best loved presenters, so reuniting them 20 years after they first appeared on screen together to host Dancing On Ice marks the start of an exciting year for the show.”

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Holly and Stephen previously worked together on Ministry of Mayhem in 2004. Stephen, who now presents Deal Or No Deal, recently looked back fondly on that time. : “I absolutely loved it with Holly,” he enthused.

“We had a great time. And the response on social media was amazing. It would be great to work with Holly again.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk