Vanessa Feltz has broken her silence after her daytime chat show was cancelled by Channel 5 after just a year, admitting that she was ‘shocked to the core’
Vanessa Feltz breaks her silence(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Vanessa Feltz has spoken out after her Channel 5 show was axed by the network after just a year on air. The broadcaster’s show, Vanessa, was cancelled earlier this week.
On her LBC show, Feltz admitted that she was “shocked” by the decision. She said: “It was a bit of a shock. It was meant to be a delightful year’s contract, the show was going really well… I was shocked to the core and very upset and I still am. It was only Wednesday at 3 o’clock that I found out.”
She added that she thought the decision came from Paramount, the parent company that owns Channel 5. She claimed: “They want to show Paramount movies every afternoon at two. It doesn’t cost them any money because they already own them. I don’t think I really came into the equation at all.”
At the time of the cancellation, a Channel 5 spokesperson told the Mirror: “Due to afternoon scheduling changes, ‘Vanessa’ will be rested from July 17th.
“We thank Vanessa and her team at ITN for 18 months of warm, witty, wise and searingly honest shows. Vanessa remains a valued member of the Channel 5 family and we are discussing future projects together.”
Throughout its 18 month run, the chat show was plagued by prank calls and low viewer numbers. The nuisance calls included impersonations of Kim Woodburn and one that was full of references to the crimes of convicted killer Virginia McCullough.
The fake calls became a regular on the show, reaching two a week, and often went viral on social media. Additionally, the show was said to attract an average of 500,000 viewers per show, which was much less than one of its key competitors, Loose Women. The ITV show is estimated to be bringing in 800,000 to 1 million viewers per episode.
Vanessa’s TV chat show originally aired from 1994-1998 on ITV, but was replaced with Trisha. After continuing her career on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast, BBC Radio 2, This Morning and more, she returned to the show, but this time for Channel 5, where it aired for an hour on weekdays, starting at 2pm.
Since it’s comeback, the show has had three revamps, both to its set and its logo. This was thought to be an attempt to attract more viewers, but audience numbers remained low.
At the time of the cancellation, a source has told the Mail that Feltz was blindsided when she was told. They said: “Vanessa was brought into a meeting after her show came off air this week.
“She had no idea what the meeting was about and certainly didn’t expect to be told it was not being renewed. She feels so blindsided but also let down by bosses.”
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