It’s unusual for ITV executives to completely agree on something, but for over a year, they’ve been clear about one thing: they urgently need a new star to fill the role currently held by Holly Willoughby.
Since leaving This Morning in 2023, everyone’s been wondering what Holly Willoughby would do next. Instead of returning to ITV, sources say she’s starting her own project through her husband Dan Baldwin’s production company.
Olivia Attwood arrived on the scene as a bubbly and down-to-earth blonde. She first became well-known on the reality show Love Island in 2017 and has been a regular face on ITV2 ever since.
Everything suggested that the 34-year-old would easily win the top spot at ITV.
Despite attending private school, Olivia charmed the channel’s leaders with her approachable and relatable personality. They believed she had the potential to become their next big star.
But in recent weeks doubts have been setting in among TV bigwigs.
Rumors about Olivia not being as kind as she appears have been increasing, and they reached a peak this week with the announcement of her divorce from footballer Bradley Dack.
To put it mildly, this is a split that looks set to become toxic.
There’s been a lot of talk lately suggesting Olivia’s relationship with Pete Wicks has become romantic, and that she hasn’t always been kind to her husband, Bradley, during their marriage.
It appears she doesn’t get along well with her colleagues on Loose Women, or the dedicated crew behind the scenes at ITV.
A source at ITV says that the channel’s management has worked hard to develop and refine her unique talent and on-screen persona.
‘But the problem is that many people don’t think she is very nice.’
Looking back, the signs were there from the beginning. For example, her 2023 ITV reality show, Olivia Marries Her Match, documented the lead-up to her wedding with Bradley, 32.
Throughout the show, she playfully teased her future husband about being slightly shorter than her. He’s 5’9″, and she’s 5’9.5″.
Speaking directly to the camera, Olivia shared that everyone has to compromise. She jokingly admitted she always imagined being with someone taller, but that people adjust and make things work.
In the third episode, which showed their extravagant wedding at the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, she mentioned what she saw as the football player’s flaws again.
Olivia announced, ‘We’re finally getting married!’ She jokingly described her fiancé, Bradley Dack, as ‘dark and handsome’ – playfully correcting herself to remove ‘tall’.
I hear comments like these were intended as a joke, but they really upset Bradley’s friends. One of them said it was completely uncalled for.
One of my sources at ITV said it was unfair, pointing out that if a man were judged in the same way, there would be strong public criticism. Despite this, she remains popular with her fans – particularly her 2.5 million Instagram followers, who enjoy her mix of personal updates and sponsored content.
Her followers are drawn to very personal details, like the story of her cosmetic surgeries – she’s had breast augmentations and reductions, and has both gotten and removed lip fillers.
‘Young women like her; they like her honesty about her cosmetic work,’ says my source.
This week, the news of her marital split was carefully briefed to a red-top newspaper.
In a carefully orchestrated public relations strategy, Bradley was publicly accused of causing their two-year marriage to fail. Friends of Olivia reportedly told the press he had behaved inappropriately – though specifics weren’t given – and that this had destroyed her trust in him.
The reports didn’t mention her connection with Pete Wicks, her co-host on Kiss FM. Last summer, photos surfaced of them looking close on a work trip to Ibiza, but they both maintained they were just friends.
Besides her show with her former husband, Olivia Attwood has also starred in other projects like “Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection” and “Olivia Attwood: Getting Filthy Rich.”
Reports indicate she’s received a substantial income – in the hundreds of thousands of pounds – from ITV, which helped finance her relocation to a modern apartment in South London.
According to a source, there’s been a lot of concern that Olivia’s friendship with Pete could jeopardize ITV’s future plans for her.
People are speculating about Olivia and Pete becoming a couple, and for good reason. A source familiar with both of them says they’re very close and wouldn’t be shocked if they officially started dating soon.
People who work with Pete and Olivia say the two describe each other as being like a married couple at work.
Before appearing on Love Island in 2017, the celebrity was previously in a relationship with Bradley, which ended beforehand.
Then on the show, she met handsome model Chris Hughes.
I’ve seen this play out so many times with couples who find fame quickly! Chris and Olivia were incredibly popular on Love Island, even though they didn’t win. ITV clearly recognized that public interest and immediately greenlit their own show, ‘Chris & Olivia: Crackin’ On,’ to follow their lives after the villa. But watching it, it became pretty clear Olivia was the one taking the lead, and honestly, Chris sometimes seemed a little overwhelmed by everything she wanted.
A lot of people found Olivia’s behavior towards Chris upsetting and difficult to watch, describing it as manipulative and unkind.
Little surprise, then, that the show ended with their break-up.
Chris is now dating JoJo Siwa, an American singer and dancer. They met while both appearing on the ITV show Celebrity Big Brother last year.
Everyone says Chris is one of the kindest people in the entertainment industry, and reports say he’s very happy with JoJo. However, Olivia seems to have made some critical comments about their relationship online, even implying that JoJo’s popularity is the only reason Chris is interested.
Chris’s friends were upset by her unkind behavior, and his colleagues stepped in months ago to ask her to stop talking about his personal life. Despite having separated over seven years prior, she continued to offer unwanted and hurtful opinions, according to one source.
She reportedly arrived at Loose Women with a pre-existing reputation when she became a panelist in 2023. Fellow panelists were surprised that she brings her own hair and makeup artists instead of using the show’s staff, leaving them confused and puzzled.
One of my sources on the Loose Women panel said, sounding annoyed, ‘I thought Olivia was supposed to be relatable and down-to-earth! She acts like she’s better than everyone else.’
Even her best friend and personal assistant Ryan Kay appears to have turned against her.
Ryan and his girlfriend were very close, even getting matching tattoos. However, their relationship ended last summer when she was seen kissing another man, Pete, while on vacation in Ibiza.
‘Olivia has been given so many opportunities by ITV to be their superstar,’ says my source.
Their biggest worry now is that Bradley will retaliate and expose a side of her that ITV wouldn’t want the public to see, damaging her carefully crafted image.
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2026-01-31 04:39