Abby Brammell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ni4VINY37Mendofvid

[starttext]

By Daily Mail Reporter

The £10m smiles: But Adrian Chiles said money had nothing to do with his and co-host Christine Bleakley's defection from the BBC to ITV


Adrian Chiles yesterday claimed he was forced out by the BBC and his move to ITV had nothing to do with the highly lucrative £6million contract he was offered.

But his long-standing co-host Christine Bleakley stayed silent about her new £4million deal with the commercial channel, instead saying she defected from the BBC purely to be with Chiles.

Chiles, 43, said he and Miss Bleakley, quit after being put under ' intolerable pressure' by corporation chiefs.

At the launch of Daybreak, the replacement for GMTV which the pair will host from next week, he said he had not been tempted by a 'suitcase of money' and was not motivated by greed.

The presenter announced he was leaving the BBC in April after it emerged that Chris Evans would take his place on the Friday edition of The One Show, the programme which originally teamed Chiles with Miss Bleakley, 31.

She followed him out of the door two months later. He is understood to have been receiving around £1milliona year at the BBC, while she was thought to be earning £100,000 a year.


New show: The pair will now host Daybreak, the replacement for GMTV


Chiles said: 'The past has been slightly re-written, which I am slightly annoyed about.

'They are trying to portray it as a classic big money move to ITV, when nothing could be further from the truth.

'We were both very happy to stay there, didn't want any more money and I just wanted to carry on doing a successful programme exactly as we had, i.e. The One Show five days a week, The Apprentice and Match of the Day 2.


Still smiling: The pair leave yesterday's photoshoot


'But obviously the changes suggested on The One Show I couldn't live with and that's why I left.

'We were both put under intolerable pressure.'

Miss Bleakley said of her move: 'The first day he left I thought, I've lost my right arm here and this is just strange.'

Speaking at the weekend, BBC1 controller Jay Hunt said Chiles had been offered other shows to try to keep him at the channel.



source: dailymail
[endtext]