As erstwhile BBC The One Show presenters Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley prepare to front the first programme of their new ITV breakfast show, Daybreak, our panellists have been debating the issue, displaying a range of opinions on the topic.
Cash dash?
Many believe that Chiles and Bleakley, whose highly publicised move across channels has been the biggest TV talking point this side of The X Factor, are simply making a ‘dash for the cash’. One panellist considered the pair to be ‘money grabbers’, while another described them as ‘overpaid’. One emphatically called the channel transfer ‘a shameless search for more wealth’. This is despite Chiles’s public denial that his decision to leave the BBC was financially fuelled.
Blame for the BBC
Others, though, blamed the BBC for pushing the pair out. One panellist said they understood ‘the pair felt badly treated by the BBC’ while another criticised the broadcasting corporation for trying to fix what was not broken: ‘I can’t understand why the BBC changed a winning formula by asking Chris Evans to step in,’ one panellist said, referring to the BBC’s decision to replace Chiles with DJ Chris Evans on Fridays. This decision is said to have triggered the entire dispute, which saw Chiles leave the show on acrimonious terms.
The uncanny resemblance between new female presenter Alex Jones and her predecessor Christine did not go unnoticed by the panel either. ‘I think it’s funny the BBC have found a clone of Christine to replace her,’ one panellist said, while another thought it ‘terrible’ that Christine was replaced with ‘an exact lookalike’.
Television marmite
It’s clear that Chiles and Bleakley divide viewer opinion. Some called the pair as ‘good fun’, said ‘they clearly work well together’ and bemoaned that The One Show ‘isn’t as good without them’, but many disagree, with one feeling that ‘neither’ of the pair is ‘very talented’. Many singled out Chiles as the weaker of the two, saying that ‘he is an awful presenter, I can’t stand watching him,’ while another described him as ‘a symbol of how our culture can catapult almost anyone to fame.’
Whether the duo’s new show will be a hit or miss remains to be seen. While some panellists say they will follow the pair, others say that they just ‘don’t have time’ for TV over their morning cornflakes. Either way, one viewer is definitely intrigued by the fuss, saying ‘I want to watch it after all the hype!’
