Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary have hit back at rumours of a feud behind the scenes at This Morning.
The unlikely duo were thrust together last year when ITV bosses made the decision to axe long-standing husband and wife hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford and install Alison and Dermot in their place to present Friday episodes of the show.
Sources have claimed the pair have clashed, bicker and have struggled to ‘hit it off’ on the show.
But now a spokesman for This Morning have confirmed the duo have become firm friends - and even socialise away from work together.
A This Morning spokesman said: “Despite the challenges of starting their on screen partnership during a pandemic, Alison and Dermot have developed a firm friendship and their chemistry has proved a ratings success.
"Since the pandemic ended, the pair are now able to enjoy socialising together post the show and have enjoyed spending time with each other's families too."
A source told the Daily Mail: “They came from very different backgrounds. Dermot has been a big star for many years and has presented some big shows, while Alison has always wanted a less high-profile career and has far less experience.
“They are impatient with one another, mainly because they do things so differently. It has led to on-set bickering and awkward tensions off-air.”
It is even suggested that the pair ‘wouldn’t be upset’ if there was a line-up shake-up and they got re-coupled with someone else and no longer had to work together.
Dermot has previously discussed reports that he and Alison had not had an easy start to their co-presenting gig but claimed they had cleared the air a few weeks after they started helming This Morning together.
Explaining the awkwardness between them when they first started co-hosting the show, Dermot told Fabulous magazine last September: “We never got to pilot, we’d never read a script through, we didn’t even have lunch together.
“We literally met for the first time in 15 years or so and that morning we presented two-and-a-half hours of live television together.
“The idea that there wouldn’t be a period of getting to know each other is insane.”
While Alison reflected on their difficult beginning during a chat on Lorraine in May last year, saying: “We were thrown together on a Friday, a bit like an arranged marriage. It took about two months to feel comfortable.
"We told each other what we didn't like. We had a few private chats and said 'oh I don't like this about you, and the other said well I don't like you when you do this'.
"I think the fact we were honest and able to talk to each other...I trust him now."
While main This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have also drawn attention thanks to persistent rumours that they are not as close behind-the-scenes as they appear on screen.
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