Josie Gibson, the anchor of This Morning, is in the “heart of a bidding war” as rival networks ITV and BBC compete for her presence on their flagship reality shows.
The 38-year-old broadcaster rose to notoriety after winning the eleventh season of Big Brother in 2010.
She’s been on several more shows since then, including OK!TV, Celebrity Wedding Planner, The Wright Stuff, Loose Women, and has worked on ITV’s breakfast show since 2019.
However, she appears to be returning to reality TV, with rumours that she is presently deciding between offers to feature on the next season of Strictly Come Dancing and jet out to Australia to take part in stomach-churning tasks for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
‘Right now, she’s one of the fastest rising stars of morning telly and she has proven incredibly popular with This Morning viewers,’ a source has said about Josie.
‘Obviously, she already knows a lot of the executives at ITV, and it makes sense for the channel to recruit in-house for their biggest, most-watched reality show of the year.
‘But BBC bosses are desperate for her to appear on Strictly as she’s exactly the kind of warm, engaging person they love — one who will always be a hit with viewers,’ they added when speaking to The Sun.
However, they explained that, in terms of scheduling, it would be ‘easier’ for her to appear on I’m A Celebrity, and that she would ‘probably be a big hit with other celebrities in the jungle Down Under’.
‘But in terms of profile Strictly probably edges it and Josie would love to a rumba.’
Josie, who was born in Bristol, received the highest proportion of public votes during her time on Big Brother.
She joined This Morning five years ago and was offered the opportunity to co-host for the first time in 2021, but recently claimed she suffered a panic attack.
Explaining how she felt she ‘wasn’t a very good presenter’ at the start of her career with This Morning, partly because ‘I couldn’t see the autocue’, Josie said she was thankful for being ‘given a chance’.
Speaking to OK! Magazine, she continued: ‘They even stuck with me after I had a panic attack in the studio because I was so nervous. But they really nurtured me and they’ve been brilliant to me.’
She now still can’t quite believe what she gets to do for work, saying she ‘cannot get over it’ and felt ‘grateful and honoured’.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
