Vanessa Feltz has opened up about her Channel 5 show being axed, revealing she was "blindsided" by the news. The 64-year-old broadcaster said she was unexpectedly called into a meeting with bosses last month where she was told her programme, Vanessa, was ending.
She filmed the last episode on Friday, July 19, and then went straight to Ireland with her grandson to keep busy following the turbulent weeks. Speaking to Daily Star, Feltz said: "God, I was absolutely devastated on Friday probably desolate, really but I then immediately came to Ireland with my little grandson, AJ, who's seven. Just me and him together, no one else, and my daughter and son-in-law and his little sister have flown in now."
She added: "It's just kept me very, very busy and literally, as they say, away from it all. I'm nowhere near where it normally happens and I'm kind of busy doing something else so it's been a very good way of dealing with it. Now I feel a bit better, I think, than I did on Friday anyway."
Shock and Moving On
"It was a shock and I was very upset but it's onwards and upwards and get over it, right?" Feltz said. She noted she would return to Channel 5 if asked but doesn't think it will happen because "they're saving money, they're putting on movies they already own and there are cuts everywhere in TV, it's not only me."
"I'm just a minuscule part of this huge thing, which is devastating for absolutely everyone because people have given their lives to this business," she continued. "I'm not the only shocked and blindsided person, certainly not but I do what I've always done in life, which is just keep calm and carry on because what else can you do?"
A Channel 5 spokesperson said in a statement: "Due to afternoon scheduling changes, Vanessa will be rested from July 17. We thank Vanessa and her team at ITN for 18 months of warm, witty, wise and searingly honest shows. Vanessa remains a valued member of the 5 family and we are discussing future projects together."
New YouTube Series
Feltz has revealed details of her new YouTube series, At Home With Vanessa, set to premiere in August. She is creating a studio at her London home, where she will chat with celebrity guests from her bed, reminiscent of her Big Breakfast segment from the 1990s.
Sharing what fans can expect, Feltz said: "It's going to be a kind of grown-up Big Breakfast-ish all shot at my house, which I call Feltz Towers. It's my actual house where I really live. I've lived there 24 years and there's a studio under construction right now."
"I hope At Home With Vanessa lends itself to a show that isn't just people sitting on a sofa looking very formal, talking about something in a very formal way. I hope it's kind of looser, more fun and more unpredictable than that," she added. "There's going to be lots of behind the scenes and lots of what's going on while we're getting ready to show it. It's going to be a pacier, livelier, a bit more unexpected and a bit more unpredictable than the usual sort of chat show. That's what I'm hoping anyway."
