Anthea Tuner, 59, moved from Blue Peter to GMTV in 1994, where she remained for two years.
The TV star has now addressed her time on the programme, which was a forerunner to Good Morning Britain, and said there was an “intensely hostile environment”.
Speaking to Best magazine, she spilled: “When I arrived at GMTV, it was a terrible shock, because I’d come from Blue Peter – where everyone was nice to everyone! It was an intensely hostile environment.”
She continued: “I used to feel physically sick some mornings – really nauseous at the idea of going in there.”
I used to feel physically sick some mornings
Anthea Turner
Anthea told how one established GMTV presenter hadn’t acknowledged her after nine weeks of being on the show.
She also said she felt “inferior” co-hosting alongside Eamonn Holmes as she claimed she wasn’t there to speak on “hard news”.
The presenter explained: “I was made to feel inferior, and was openly sneered at because I was employed to counter-balance Eamonn and deal with lighter subjects – soaps, music and film… more ‘entertainment’ than hard news.”
Giving an example of harsh comments she received, Anthea revealed: “One day, I was sat on the sofa ready to go on air and The Telegraph newspaper was on the coffee table in front of me.
“A colleague walked past and picked it up, and she said, ‘Sorry, Anthea, were you reading this? Oh no, you don’t read the big ones, do you?’
“I remember feeling this lump in my throat, desperately trying to compose myself before cheerfully saying to the nation, ‘Good Morning!’”
Elsewhere, Anthea’s former GMTV colleague, Esther, 51, was snubbed by Lorraine, 59, on her self-titled show when the latter admitted she didn’t remember details about working with her.
On Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan spoke to Lorraine and asked: “Do you remember Esther McVey from the GMTV days?”
The ITV star bluntly replied: “Yup,” prompting Piers to probe her on whether she got on with Esther back in the day.
She quickly said: “I don’t remember, I don’t remember, I don’t remember at all. It was a long time ago”.
Picking up on the tension, Piers said: “Ooh if looks could kill!”
The following day, Lorraine said there was “no battle” between her and Esther.
She added: “I strongly disagree with her on LGBT rights and I just thought to myself, ‘I’ve had enough of this… now we have got a state in Britain where people are at each other’s throats and it has to stop’.”
Esther went on to hint they didn’t see eye-to-eye after she was promoted to work wth Eamonn.
The Conservative MP said on LBC Radio last week: “She used to be on the programme afterwards and obviously she used to be partnered with Eamonn Holmes and then I was promoted to be partnering with Eamonn Holmes.”
“But she’s great and it was a great show, and I can’t believe it was 20 years ago, but never mind, it was really good at the time, really good fun.”
Source: Read Full Article