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Kelly Brook: Ant and Dec were the reason I left Britain's Got Talent
By Georgina Littlejohn, London Lite Last updated at 10:13am on 30.10.09Kelly Brook has blamed her sudden departure from Britain's Got Talent on hosts Ant and Dec.
Egos: Kelly Brook and Ant & Dec didn't see eye to eye
The TV presenter joined the ITV talent show's judging panel in January this year at the request of creator Simon Cowell, but was sacked six days later and was told the four-judge format was “too complicated”.
But the former model today claimed that Ant, 33, and 34-year-old Dec - full names Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly - were the reason behind it after they admitted that she was “wrong from the start”.
Brook, 29, said: “The people at ITV were telling me that I had upset Ant and Dec and that was it.
“I would love to have stayed on the show. I really felt it was working out. Ant and Dec had never been anything but pleasant to my face but, clearly, they didn't want me on the show.
“Their egos are such that they were saying to themselves How dare she think she can come on to our show?', and since then they've been very vocal about their displeasure at me being there.”
They duo claimed in their autobiography that she hadn't even watched one single episode after she asked them what they did on the show.
A few weeks after her departure, Donnelly admitted: “We were angry about Kelly. But it was because no one asked our opinion. What was upsetting was that it happened in the first place. It was wrong from the start.”
But Brook said she was shocked at their behaviour especially as her fellow judges, Amanda Holden, and Piers Morgan, were very welcoming.
She said: “Amanda Holden was put into a very difficult position because the press were trying to make out that it was Amanda versus Kelly, like they did with Cheryl and Dannii Minogue on X Factor, but she was very supportive.”
And she said Cowell admitted to her: “You don't even want to know what was going on behind the scenes. It is just a case of some people not wanting you there.”
“And that's what it was all about - a clash of egos. My ego was dented, but it didn't affect the way I am or how I feel about the industry.
“As for Ant and Dec, good luck to them. They are rich and they are happy, but they won't be in my autobiography, even if I am in theirs!”
Brook also hinted that she was ready to settle down with her boyfriend, England rugby star Danny Cipirani, 21.
She said: “I turn 30 next month and I see it as an achievement that I've got to this age without getting married and having children. Not that I've got anything against either, but I have been with so many guys who have said “You're mine.
Let's get married and have kids” and I have always said no because I have always wanted my independence and my own life.
“But now that I am with Danny, properly as a couple, I am looking forward to giving all that up.”
She starts her new role in the West End production of Calendar Girls at the Noel Coward theatre next week but admitted she was slightly concerned about taking her clothes off.
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Reader views (12)
Isn't strange that the negative comments about Kelly Brook here are from female readers. Jealousy is a terrible thing !
- Keith, Croydon
Well then, just what DO Ant & Dec do on the BGT show? It seems a perfectly fair question to me but so far no one seems to know the answer.
- Will, Hastings, East Sussex, UK
all television is the work of satan!
- Bella Bigs, leicester
Has everyone forgotten how absolutely dire she was on the Big Breakfast?; she can't present or do anything in the public eye - give it up love!!! Is it surprising Ant and Dec didn't like her - and don't tell me that if Simon Cowell actually wanted her on there she wouldn't have stayed!!
- Janet, Rugby England
At least Ant and Dec have worked hard to get to where they are today.
- Goggs, London
Don't tell me she has a book coming out?!
- Susie, London
Nothing to do with Kelly being a talentless airhead, then? Maybe she should wake up and realise the reason she has no TV career is because no one wants to watch her!
- Anita, London
They were right to drop her - she couldn't be bothered to watch an episode to see what was expected of her beforehand?? She's not that amazing as a "personality" for her laziness and general stupidity to be that easily forgiven. Kelly, love, you may as well get married and pop out babies as you'll never get proper T.V. work again - that should be rightly reserved for people who work hard on all aspects of themselves not just filing their nails and teeth.
- Doozer, Manchester, UK
In the interview Kelly refers to rugby as an industry. She has a perception about the game that commentators should wake up to.
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey
Ant and Dec have no talent whatsover. They are as boring as the the wallpaper in my loo.
- Teddy, Hereford England
Kelly should look back at her performance - it doesn't take a genius to work out she is rubbish at presenting - stick to photos, they don't show her lack of personality.
- Natalie, London
Why doesn't Kelly just admit that she was absolutely useless. She's very beautiful and should stick to modelling.
- Jk, London
