Eamonn Holmes says his biggest achievement is “surviving” the cut throat TV industry for four decades.
He said: “The art of television is surviving. People say ‘what’s your biggest achievement?’ and it’s actually staying the course for 41 years.
“It’s getting on the conveyor belt, that’s tough but staying on the conveyor belt is much tougher.”
The TV veteran, 61, and wife Ruth Langsford have been replaced on This Morning’s Friday show by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.
Starting his career as a farming reporter on Ulster Television in 1979 before going on to present GMTV and anchor the breakfast programme on Sky News but still has things he wants to achieve in his career.
Speaking on the TV show Eamonn Mallie: Face to Face with Eamonn Holmes, he said: “I still have the appetite, I still am as enthusiastic as I’ve ever been. I should have been warned it would all be over so quickly.”
Reflecting on his TV peers, he admitted their friendly on-screen personalities aren’t the same when the cameras are turned off.
He said: “A lot of people take on a persona and you just have no idea who they are and they are quite false.”
But Eamonn himself wishes he had occasionally been more cocky as a youngster.
Looking back on his career he said: “If I have one regret, I’ve always been very responsible. When I joined UTV, the head of programmes Derek Murray said to me 'Listen, keep your feet on the ground' and my parents said ‘keep your feet on the ground’ everywhere I turn people in Northern Ireland say ‘don’t be getting too big for your boots’.
“I think if I did it again I’d love to get too big for my boots and I’d love to really enjoy the ride much more. It’s all gone so quickly.”
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