Good Morning Britain's Andi Peters swaps the Maldives for grey skied Hampshire village after ITV stops flying presenters to luxury destinations amid budget cuts

Daily Mail​

19 hours ago

Good Morning Britain's Andi Peters swapped the sunny beaches of the Maldives for a dreary skied Hampshire village to plug ITV 's competition today following the broadcaster's budget cuts.
MailOnline yesterday revealed how the broadcaster has stopped sending Andi, 54, and Jeff Brazier, 46, to luxury locations across the world including South Africa and Thailand, to promote their competitions.
It is understood GMB bosses feel it's in 'bad taste' to continue jetting the presenters off to far-flung destinations after ITV announced hundreds of redundancies across daytime shows Lorraine and Loose Women.
This year alone, Andi has been flown to the Maldives, Australia, Cape Town, and Florida, while Jeff broadcasted from Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malta, which according to insiders, has 'irritated' production staff who have since been told their roles are at risk.
In what seems like an attempt to curb the backlash, producers today sent him just two hours up the road from London 's Television Centre to Portchester - a little village in the borough of Fareham in Hampshire.
The presenter managed to maintain his cheery demeanour and upbeat attitude despite the cloudy, grey skies and chilly 16C temperatures as he detailed the competition in front of Portchester Castle.
He swapped his brightly coloured short sleeve t-shirts and shorts for a polo shirt, black long-sleeved jacket and black trousers.
Andi was also joined by a previous competition winner Jane as the pair bought cake from a conveniently placed snack truck which perked up the rather dull backdrop.
It is understood GMB bosses feel it's in 'bad taste' to continue jetting the presenters off to far-flung destinations after ITV announced hundreds of redundancies across daytime shows Lorraine and Loose Women
Speaking directly to hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley, who were on the other end of the video call in their toasty London studio, Andi joked: 'I'm not sure if you've ever been to Portchester Castle but it's a very nice, quite quaint, a little bit breezy, but very, very nice.'
The lighthearted dig was met with laughter from the pair as Richard quipped back: 'It suits you down to the ground, Andi.'
ITV has refrained from sending any of their talent abroad since May 19 when Lisa Snowdon hosted a segment from Cyprus, which coincided with their devastating announcement of job losses and budget cuts.
Viewers have also hit out in their hundreds over Andi's regular trips to opulent sun drenched locations.
One agitated X user wrote: 'If ITV really wanted to save money they would stop sending Andi Peters to Mauritius or the rings of Saturn every time they have a competition.'
On May 20, ITV announced they were halving Lorraine's run-time from an hour to just 30 minutes and only broadcasting Loose Women for 30 weeks of the year.
A source told MailOnline: 'ITV have scaled back on sending top talent overseas to present their competition segments.
'The competitions themselves, which give viewers the chance to win six figure sums and idyllic holidays, bring in a great deal of revenue, but constantly flying the likes of Andi and Jeff to the Maldives and South Africa was starting to frustrate staff and viewers alike.
In what seems like an attempt to curb the backlash, producers today sent him just two hours up the road from London 's Television Centre to Portchester - a little village in the borough of Fareham in Hampshire
ITV has refrained from sending any of their talent abroad since May 19 when Lisa Snowdon hosted a segment from Cyprus, which coincided with their devastating announcement of job losses and budget cuts
'It was decided that they would dial down for a few weeks after the budget cuts were announced and no one has flown overseas to present the competitions since.
'As well as there being a backlash online from disgruntled viewers, it was felt continuing to send talent abroad to luxurious holiday destinations as others are losing their jobs would be in bad taste.'
Andi has been the face of ITV's competition segments for years, jetting off to an endless list of desirable holiday destinations.
In January, he was in Australia followed by the Maldives, where he appeared on a unicorn float, before flying to South Africa in February and Florida in April.
Meanwhile, Jeff, flew to Thailand in January, Sri Lanka in March and the same month was joined by son Freddy in Gozo, Malta.
But since the announcement of ITV's budget cuts last month, Jeff has instead broadcast from the Cotswolds and London's Television Centre while during Monday's programme of Lorraine, Andi was in Bristol.
Last week, MailOnline revealed the extent of future cuts to ITV's Loose Women, with the show set to no longer broadcast with a live studio audience.
An insider confirmed that the programme, which will only air 30 weeks of the year during school term times, is scrapping having fans join them at the London studio because it's too expensive.
Andi was also joined by a previous competition winner Jane as the pair bought cake from a conveniently placed snack truck which perked up the rather dull backdrop
This Morning are also cutting back on costs as they resist broadcasting from outdoor locations and sending presenters like Alison Hammond abroad to interview A-list celebrities.
It's been speculated that Lorraine will quit her show following the end of her one-year contract, with the long-running ITV series predicted to be cancelled.
While Lorraine is yet to comment, Loose Woman Nadia Sawalha has spoken out about the 'brutal' cuts and how they have affected her.
She said: 'This show has been highly successful for 25 years, more actually now, it is such a clear brand...
'The brutality of the world... what a lot of people don't realise is that we're self-employed, every contract is a new contract, I could be let go tomorrow or in five years, we're not employees.
'What's been absolutely brutal over the last week and honestly, I feel tearful about it is that hundreds of people are going to be made redundant out of the blue, these are people behind the scenes, that support us in every way.
'It's the way of the world, inflation is insane, cuts have to be made... a lot of my friends and colleagues on this show and at ITV have been there for decades, and I can't tell you how upsetting it was to see people walking around numb with shock and fear about what they were going to do.'