After his Tippy Toes Anthea Turner jibe: Eamonn Holmes calls Daybreak's Christine Bleakley 'Miss Stratosphere'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPzCmy8ZVdMendofvid

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By Rachel Quigley

Going stratospheric: Christine Bleakley leaving the ITV Daybreak studios after her debut on the show last Monday


Some people just can’t stop themselves.

Eamonn Holmes infamously called his GMTV co-star Anthea Turner ‘Princess Tippy Toes’.

Now he has struck again – this time against his breakfast show rival Christine Bleakley.

Holmes, 50, archly described the host of ITV’s Daybreak as ‘Miss Stratosphere’.


Sofa wars: Eamonn Holmes filming for This Morning earlier this month


He called on the popular 31-year-old – whose show competes with his own Sky News Sunrise – not to ‘forget the little people’.

Holmes, who had been in talks with ITV before Adrian Chiles and Miss Bleakley were poached from the BBC, also accused the broadcaster of ‘stealing’ from his show.

He said: ‘I haven’t seen a minute of it and I won’t be watching. I’m far too busy on my own show, although I take it as a compliment that they like ours so much they decided to steal elements from it for theirs.’

And, in an apparent reference to weathergirl Lucy Verasamy, 30, being poached from Sky Sunrise, he sniffed: ‘And they even tried to steal some of the team.’

Asked about fellow Northern Ireland native Miss Bleakley, he told the TV Quick awards: ‘Oh yes, Miss Stratosphere. So pleased for her, let’s just hope she doesn’t forget about the little people as she continues to rise.’

Holmes was said to be ‘spitting feathers’ after Miss Bleakley failed to turn up to his wedding to Ruth Langsford in June.


Morning has broken: Adrian and Christine on Wednesday's edition of Daybreak


She instead chose to go to the World Cup to see her boyfriend, England star Frank Lampard.

It is far from the first ‘sofa war’ Holmes has waged.

He presented GMTV from 1994 to 1996 with Anthea Turner, but their relationship was frosty.


Hungry, young and ambitious: Holmes with then co-presenters on GMTV Anthea Turner and Fiona Phillips in 1997


It was dealt a final blow after Holmes publicly described her as ‘Princess Tippy Toes’.

More recently, Holmes called in lawyers after he was satirised on the BBC’s The Impressions Show as a chronic over-eater.

Last night Mr Holmes insisted he had meant his comments about Miss Bleakley as a joke.

He said: ‘I simply said she was going to be the biggest TV presenter in the UK over the next three years...her career will hit the stratosphere, that’s all I meant.

‘When I said I hope she remembers us “little people” it was a completely self-deprecating remark meaning that her career will probably surpass that of mine.’


source: dailymail
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