Newly recruited from BBC1, ITV's daytime chief Alison Sharman has made her first big money signing, by going back to the BBC for celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson.
Nemesis of Gordon Ramsay and star of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (Ramsay once suggested he "fuck off back to the jungle"), Thompson will present a Saturday morning show on ITV1 as part of a £5m programming deal. Just like he does at the moment on BBC1.
This is either another sign of ITV director of television Simon Shaps's determination to poach top BBC talent, or it shows a startling lack of imagination at the station which will tackle reality giant Big Brother with yet another reality show, Celebrity X Factor.
Sharman is obviously a huge fan, saying that in Worrall Thompson she has poached "one of the country's most respected chefs". Try telling that to Ramsay. Hell's kitchen - or TV heaven?
