Stars have been left fuming at the decision that came as a bolt out of the blue.
Chiles, speaking to the Sunday People, revealed he was “angry, upset and acutely embarrassed,” by the move by ITV bosses.
“We were assured we would go with our dignity intact and that has obviously not happened,” he added.
ITV bosses had wanted to replace Bleakley whom they deemed the weak link in the presenting duo.
“Christine is a lovely girl but she is much more suited to light entertainment. She does not have the gravitas when it comes to big news,” a source told the Daily Mail. Chiles though refused to continue without his co-presenter, resulting in the pair getting the immediate chop. They are now set to leave within weeks.
Bleakley immediately took to Twitter over the weekend to voice her opinion of the move, sarcastically commenting it was “a lovely headline to wake up to.”
The decision comes as a blow for the duo for joined the channel so triumphantly only 17 months ago to the tune of £1 million a year salaries but they won’t be left high and dry though. Bleakley is set to take over from Holly Willoughby as the host of ITV’s Dancing On Ice, with Chiles set to focus on presenting football for the channel with a new series of his Sunday night chatshow to come in the New Year.
Daybreak debuted in June 2010 but struggled to find an audience averaging only 700,000 viewers, a far cry from its GMTV predecessor and half of its BBC Breakfast competition.
ITV bosses are looking to revamp the morning show slot in the New Year.
