EXCLUSIVE ITV STOPS flights for Andi Peters and Jeff Brazier to luxury destinations to promote competitions amid job cuts

Daily Mail​

3 hours ago

ITV has stopped sending Andi Peters and Jeff Brazier to far-flung locations across the globe such as the Maldives, South Africa and Thailand, to plug the broadcaster's competitions.
MailOnline understands that executives at the channel feel it's in 'bad taste' to continue flying presenters like Andi, 54, and Jeff, 46, to luxury overseas destinations after announcing hundreds of redundancies across ITV daytime shows Lorraine and Loose Women.
This year alone, Andi has broadcast from the Maldives, Australia, Cape Town, and Florida, while Jeff has jet to Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malta, which according to insiders, has 'irritated' production staff who have since been told their roles are at risk.
The broadcaster has resisted sending any of their talent abroad since May 19 when Lisa Snowdon hosted a segment from Cyprus, which coincided with their official announcement of budget cuts and job losses.
And it's not just the frustration of staff members as viewers have also hit out in their hundreds over Andi regularly appearing in sun drenched destinations, with one X user commenting: '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 TV show Lorraine from an hour to 30 minutes and only broadcasting the show, as well as panel series 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.
'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.
MailOnline has approached an ITV spokesperson for comment.
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.
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.'