Lorraine Kelly Rejects ITV’s ‘Insulting’ Offer to Merge Shows, May Quit Next Year

Lorraine Kelly was given the chance by ITV bosses to merge her daytime show with Good Morning Britain to present the last 30 minutes of their broadcast, but she declined.

The TV veteran, 65, was pulled into a meeting prior to the channel’s budget cuts announcement last week where she was offered the new proposal, which was considered an ‘easy fix’ after the same format was adopted during the pandemic.

Sources have revealed that Lorraine was ‘insulted’ by the suggestion and told bigwigs it wasn’t a possibility, resulting in the reduced runtime of her show from an hour to 30 minutes.

MailOnline understands that Lorraine, who has presented her show for the past 14 years, was prepared to ‘walk away’ but agreed to continue hosting the series until the end of 2026.

The star is predicted to quit for good next year after a new role titled ‘Head of Lorraine’ was created to oversee the changes, but the contract is only for a 12-month period.

Last week, ITV confirmed that ITN is taking over the output of Good Morning Britain while Lorraine and Loose Women will only air 30 weeks per year and are moving from Television Centre to a central London studio.

Lorraine Kelly was given the chance by ITV bosses to merge her daytime show with Good Morning Britain to present the last 30 minutes of their broadcast, but she declined

It has been reported that Susanna Reid is negotiating a longer-term two-year contract to be a ‘face of the network’ as Good Morning Britain is extended by 30 minutes next year

Sources have revealed that Lorraine was ‘insulted’ by the suggestion and told bigwigs it wasn’t a possibility, resulting in the reduced runtime of her show 

A show insider revealed: ‘Lorraine was pulled into a meeting with bosses where she was told about Good Morning Britain being taken over by ITN ahead of the public announcement.

‘It was proposed that her show would merge with GMB so that she presented the last 30 minutes of the broadcast, which is what happened when a reduced team were working during lockdown.

‘But she told them no and said it wasn’t even a possibility… fast-forwarded two weeks and the channel announced her show would be cut from an hour to 30 minutes…

‘The entire thing has been an insult and she’s certain to leave when the year-long contract ends.’

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women will relocate from Television Centre to a new filming location, where they plan to share the same studio.

MailOnline revealed the reality of cutbacks to This Morning last week, which will result in massive changes to the show’s current format.

And now insiders say there will be limited time between each show so changing the sets may not be an option, as the output of the programmes will likely suffer.

A source added: ‘In January, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women are moving from Television Centre to a central London location, rumoured to be the Hospital Club in Covent Garden. 

The star is predicted to quit for good next year after a new role titled ‘Head of Lorraine’ was created to oversee the changes, but the contract is only for a 12-month period

Lorraine has presented her TV show for the past 14 years and will continue to front the programme until 2026 but her future beyond then remains uncertain

It’s believed former This Morning presenter Richard Madeley faced the axe from his breakfast show job before a showdown with bosses left him with a part-time deal 

‘All three shows will share the same studio, meaning sets will be massively reduced to save space and money.

‘At present, This Morning broadcasts from a huge studio within Television Centre and Lorraine and Loose Women share one space.

‘Lorraine’s set is flipped once they come off air and Loose Women is put in but the new set up is thought to involve all the shows sharing one space with no set flips in between.’

A source close to ITV said: ‘We were very open about the challenges in the industry and so several options were discussed, the key was ensuring Lorraine was retained and was as comfortable as possible in a changing landscape.

‘Her show is still hugely valued, Lorraine recently had its highest audience share in four years and still reaches 2.7 million people.’

It was reported by the Sun on Sunday that Susanna Reid, 54, is negotiating a new longer-term two-year contract to become a face of the network while co-host Richard Madeley fought to stay on the series. 

It’s believed the former This Morning presenter faced the axe from his breakfast show job before a showdown with bosses left him with a part-time deal.