When she stood into Holly Willoughby’s shoes to host This Morning, fans were struck with how much she looked like the former presenter.
In fact, viewers claimed they had to do a double take when they saw what they described as Holly’s ‘doppelganger’.
But ITV bosses have ruled out singer Mollie King from replacing Holly on the show’s sofa, citing her ‘inexperience’ as a broadcaster behind their decision.
Mollie, 36, a former star of the now defunct pop band The Saturdays, was a contender for the role after bosses decided to hold live auditions in a bid to find a duo to take over from Holly, 42, and Phillip Schofield, 61, along with the likes of Emma Willis, Lisa Snowden and Christine Lampard.
One This Morning source told the Mail: ‘It seemed like a really good idea to get Mollie on, she is literally a dead ringer for Holly and she has a big fan base.
ITV bosses have ruled out singer Mollie King from replacing Holly Willoughby on the This Morning, citing her ‘inexperience’ as a broadcaster behind their decision
But when the Saturday’s singer stood into Holly shoes to host the ITV show, fans were struck with how much she looked like the former presenter (pictured May 2023)
‘A bit like Holly, girls love her and men fancy her, plus she comes across as so sweet and lovely which viewers like.
‘But she just doesn’t have the hours of live broadcasting time that is needed to host a show like This Morning. It would have been a great gimmik for the programme, she literally is Holly’s doppleganger but it was a case of thanks, but no thanks.’
Mollie hosts a show on Radio 1 with comedian Matt Edmondson, having previously hosted one on her own.
But after ITV bosses launched their idea to hold live auditions to find their new pairing, they approached her.
Mollie, who is engaged to former England cricket star Stuart Broad, then hosted the show with Dermot O’Leary while his usual co-star Alison Hammond was appearing in pantomime.
Meanwhile, ITV chiefs are understood to have gone off the idea of signing former BBC presenter Steph McGovern.
Her Channel 4 show Steph’s Packed Lunch was recently axed.
Bosses have pushed back their big relaunch after their main target Cat Deeley turned down an offer to anchor the programme and instead sign up to front American talent series, So You Think You Can Dance.
Mollie was a contender for the role after bosses decided to hold live auditions in a bid to find a duo to take over from Holly, 42, and Phillip Schofield , 61 (pictured with Andi Peters)
One This Morning source told the Mail: ‘A bit like Holly, girls love her and men fancy her, plus she comes across as so sweet. But she just doesn’t have the hours of live broadcasting time that is needed to host a show like This Morning’
Emma also told them she couldn’t commit to the role full time, while Christine also is said to not be keen on replacing Holly for four days each week.
Irish presenter Craig Doyle is said to be favourite to replace Phillip, though ITV executives are very keen to entice Rylan Clark to take the role.
Holly quit the show in October following a plot to kidnap and murder her.
Phillip left the channel in May amid his confession that he had an affair with a much younger colleague.
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