Latest news with #Feltz
Daily Mirror
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Vanessa Feltz's Channel 5 show ‘on the brink' as ratings drop amid crisis talks
Vanessa Feltz's new afternoon talk show on Channel 5 is reportedly facing an uncertain future as disappointing ratings prompt behind-the-scenes crisis talks Channel 5 is reportedly scrambling behind the scenes as concerns mount over the future of Vanessa, the recently launched afternoon talk show fronted by veteran broadcaster Vanessa Feltz. Just two months into its run, the programme has yet to make the splash network executives had hoped for - prompting urgent strategy meetings and casting doubt over Feltz's long-term place at the channel. Top producers have reportedly held intense discussions in recent days, weighing the show's viability and considering potential format overhauls. The network had anticipated that Vanessa's star power would retain the audience from The Jeremy Vine Show, but viewership has not met expectations. 'The future of Vanessa's show is very much uncertain for the time being,' a source confided to The Sun. 'Bosses have been locked in crisis talks and have been planning ways to immediately revamp the programme if there is to be a chance that it could be saved." Ratings for the show have reportedly nosedived, with just 62,000 people tuning in to Monday's episode - a sharp contrast to the 200,000 viewers Jeremy Vine routinely draws. 'Jeremy regularly gets 200,000 watching his show but they all seem to reach for the remote and switch off when Vanessa comes on,' the insider added. The atmosphere behind the scenes has grown increasingly tense, particularly following ITV 's recent announcement of sweeping cuts to its daytime output. With big-name programmes like Lorraine and Loose Women facing potential downsizing, insiders say staff are bracing for the worst. 'Everyone is worried and they all feel bitterly disappointed that Vanessa's show hasn't taken off as planned,' the source said. However, a second insider offered a more tempered view, noting that the time slot Vanessa occupies traditionally underperforms in comparison to earlier segments: 'Vanessa's timeslot has always typically received less viewers than Jeremy's on-air slot and at present, [the show] was still performing in-line with what is expected of early afternoons on Channel 5.' In response to the speculation, a Channel 5 spokesperson commented: 'There are no current plans for any changes. As with all live shows, we continue to evolve with our audience.' Vanessa made a high-profile return to daytime television when the show debuted earlier this year, marking a revival of a format she first led in the 1990s. She originally hosted Vanessa on ITV from 1994 to 1998, with the show coming to an end amid reports of a pay dispute, during which Feltz allegedly requested a £2.75 million salary. She later fronted The Vanessa Show on BBC One in 1999, though it was short-lived and cancelled after just one season. Channel 5 attempted to breathe new life into the concept in 2011, but the revamped Vanessa Show was ultimately relegated to a later time slot due to flagging ratings and then cancelled altogether. The Mirror has approached Vanessa's representatives and a Channel 5 spokesperson for comment on this story.
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Vanessa, Channel 5, review: Feltz's TV return is nervy, welcoming and familiar daytime fodder
Vanessa Feltz making a Meghan Markle parody video with cheese strings before chatting about naked selfies: is this what your lunchtime has been missing? Back in the Nineties, Feltz had an eponymous daytime chat show, which bit the dust after a scandal over fake guests. After a gap of 26 years, she is back with Vanessa on Channel 5 (now known simply as 5). The vibe now is less Jerry Springer fisticuffs, more Drew Barrymore emotional honesty, with Feltz being open about her own relationships and family dilemmas. 'Heartwarming, straight-talking' TV is promised, in a pink studio that channels Barbara Cartland by way of DFS. The tone is welcoming and the content is familiar daytime fodder: viewer phone-ins, guests on the sofa and experts popping in to offer relationship advice. We started in tame territory. 'Do you need a partner to be happy?' 'Tips and advice on blended families.' And then, 'Would you send a saucy photo to your partner to spice up your relationship?' In the spirit of sharing, Vanessa offered up the fact that she was asked for a picture of her 'intimate private zones' only recently. The results, alas, looked 'absolutely horrific' so she didn't send it. Is this what it's like to date at 63? What a future I have to look forward to. Feltz confessed to being 'wildly nervous' and it showed in the opening minutes. Perhaps she was thinking about ratings – the show is boldly scheduled against Loose Women on ITV – or technical teething problems. Or was she worried about the calibre of her guests? 'No one is allowed through the door unless they are a legend,' she said on the promotional trail last week but perhaps legends have Mondays off, because the main guest was Helen Flanagan, a former actress who left Coronation Street in 2018 and now seems to exist on Instagram. The other was Lizzie Cundy, who is a pal of Vanessa's and is, according to Wikipedia, 'an English socialite, TV personality and former wife of footballer Jason Cundy'. Neither of them had anything interesting to contribute, yet the show was built around Flanagan (she is, as you will gather if you look at her social media, a fan of sexy selfies). At the moment, the programme has nothing to make it stand out from the competition apart from Feltz herself. She is an accomplished presenter who wears her intelligence lightly. She can also throw herself into a joke, parodying the Duchess of Sussex's rainbow food plating by making a sun out of an orange slice and three packets of cheese strings. And she can handle the sex talk deftly, steering it away from smuttiness (this is daytime TV, after all). Can the show beat Loose Women? It's unlikely, although the phone-in featured a smattering of men so maybe Feltz has a wider appeal to both genders. Let's hope her preening ex didn't tune in to hear this rather elegant put-down: 'Every time this gentleman disrobed and took off his undergarments, it was like he was showing me a trophy of international renown.'
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Vanessa Feltz to interview actress Helen Flanagan as first guest on new 5 show
Vanessa Feltz is to interview actress Helen Flanagan as the first guest on her new 5 show after the presenter departed This Morning. The 63-year-old will launch Vanessa at 12.30pm on Monday March 24, after she left her presenting role on the ITV daytime magazine show after more than 30 years. Flanagan, 34, who is best known for playing Rosie Webster on ITV soap Coronation Street between 2000 and 2018, will chat to Feltz about co-parenting her three children with her ex-husband, footballer Scott Sinclair, as well as welcoming her new partner's children into the family. Speaking about the new show on The Jeremy Vine Show on Friday, Feltz said: 'Helen's also very candid about all sorts of issues that she's had in life. 'It hasn't necessarily gone straightforwardly in every way, she had a sad split from the father of her children, she's found love again. 'She's going to be a revelation. I think she's going to be fabulous.' Feltz had previously told the PA news agency her new show would welcome any subject of conversation with the exception of politics. She said: 'It's not going to be politics, and it's not going to be news stories of the day, it's not that. 'So that is great, because lots of people are completely overwhelmed by the news agenda – it's a bit worrying and unsettling … you keep hearing all these sad and worrying stories, and you're not sure what to do about them, because what the hell can you do? And you feel horrid. 'So I'm hoping that this will be a kind of oasis of refuge in the middle of the day, away from the news and into the things that we really like, like love, and friendship, and dating, and family relationships, and parenting. 'You know, all the stuff that really concerns us, that we think about and worry about.' From March 24, Vanessa will air from Monday to Friday at lunchtimes on 5, produced by ITN Productions.
The Independent
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Vanessa Feltz leaves This Morning after 33 years for new breakfast show
Vanessa Feltz has left This Morning after 33 years to present her new 5 daytime show titled Vanessa. The 63-year-old broadcaster has been a regular contributor on the ITV programme since 1992 but will be stepping away from the commitment as she fronts her own lunchtime TV show, which will launch on 5 on 24 March at 12.45pm. Vanessa promises to cover a range of topics including celebrity gossip, life advice, relationships, parenting and more. She told the Daily Star: 'I've been on This Morning since 1992. It's been a long time. But I'm now doing my own show and I can't do both.' 'When I told everyone I wouldn't be able to do the show anymore, they were lovely about it. I heard from Alison Hammond and Holly Willoughby immediately and the bosses were charming. I'll miss working with them all.' She continued: 'I have learned lots of stuff on This Morning. When I first did it, I had never been on TV before. I didn't know what was going on. I was bamboozled but they gave me a contract." She added on Instagram: 'I love This Morning and all my friends and family there. Huge and kisses to everybody. Come and join me for lunch every weekday on @5 @channel5_tv 12.30 for a good chinwag.' Feltz first gained national recognition with The Vanessa Show on ITV, which ran from 1994 to 1998, before she moved to the BBC, where she presented the Vanessa Feltz Breakfast Show on BBC Radio London and an early morning show on BBC Radio 2. In 2022, she left the BBC after nearly 20 years, and joined TalkTV, where she hosted her own show for two years. She left TalkTV and has been continuing her regular appearances on This Morning, and in November the broadcaster replaced former Countdown star Carol Vorderman on her Sunday slot on LBC. Feltz's new show comes as Channel 5 and its on-demand site My5 relaunched this week as '5' to unite the broadcaster's linear and streaming platforms under one brand. The relaunch features an expanded offering of shows from across Paramount's different brands, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV Entertainment Studios, with 15 new live channels available on 5's free streaming service. Feltz's departure from This Morning comes after the show has undergone major changes in recent years with hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley taking over as presenters from Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. Schofield quit the show in 2023, after he admitted to lying about an affair with a younger male colleague. Willoughby stepped away from the programme four months later to spend more time with her family after it emerged that a security guard had planned to kidnap and murder her.
The Independent
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Ben Ofoedu hits out at ex Vanessa Feltz after split
Vanessa Feltz ' former fiancé Ben Ofoedu has made clear there's no chance of reconciliation between him and the TV presenter. In 2023, the 62-year-old Loose Women panellist announced that her 16-year relationship with Ofoedu, who is 10 years younger than her, had come to an end after multiple allegations emerged that he had cheated on her. At the time, Ofoedu admitted to breaking Feltz's trust when he had sex with another woman who he met while on tour with Phats & Small. Feltz then recounted the breakdown of their relationship in her memoir, Vanessa Bares All. Speaking to the MailOnline at the Boyzone: No Matter What premiere Ofoedu revealed: 'We haven't made peace, and I don't speak to her.' Of Feltz's memoir, he added: 'She wrote some terrible things about me in her book, and I felt there was no need for it.' Ofoedu said he thought Feltz had handle their breakup with 'incredibly bad taste' and 'with no class at all'. 'I would rather not have anything to do with her,' he continued. 'We were together for 17 years and the way she spoke about me in her book just shows me I'm incredibly glad not to be in her life any more.' The Phats & Small singer is now in a new relationship with a different Vanessa – 29-year-old beauty entrepreneur Vanessa Lana Brown. The singer claimed he didn't initially realise his partner's name was Vanessa and just thought he was 'speaking to this beautiful girl with blonde hair and that was that'. Ofoedu revealed he and Brown have already discussed having children in the near future. 'Who knows? There might soon be some little Ofoedus,' he said. The remarks come shortly after Feltz revealed that being single and surrounded by married people can make her feel 'positively leprous'. Speaking to The Telegraph, Feltz said that she continually feels the need to be married following her split from Ofoedu, and those feelings are 'acute and overwhelming'. 'In my head I know it's absolutely and utterly absurd. As a single person, I don't think I should be demoted and have to lick food from a bowl under the table because I'm unwanted and unchosen and unclaimed, and I would violently defend anyone else who was forced to feel less so because they aren't married,' she said. 'I am ebullient, full of oomph, funny and good fun, outgoing, gregarious, razzle-dazzle, entertaining. Plus I am clever. But in my heart and soul, I feel positively leprous. It's really sad, isn't it?' Prior to her relationship with Ofoedu, Feltz was married to orthopaedic surgeon Michael Kurer with whom she has two daughters, Saskia and Allegra, who are both in their thirties. Feltz married Kurer in 1983 and they divorced in 2000.
