Matthew Wright: I would have been "firmer" with Roxanne Pallett than Jeremy Vine
The former presenter of The Wright Stuff admits that while he hasn't watched Jeremy Vine's debut on Channel 5, he did see the interview with the controversial Celebrity Big Brother star
Matthew Wright has said that he might have been "firmer" with controversial Celebrity Big Brother star Roxanne Pallett than his Channel 5 successor Jeremy Vine.
The former presenter of The Wright Stuff said that while he hasn't seen Vine's debut week on Channel 5, he did watch the new host's interview with Roxanne following her Big Brother exit.
Giving his verdict on Vine's performance, the 53-year-old told ITV's This Morning, "I might have been a little bit firmer with her I think, but I thought Emma Willis did a really good interview on Celebrity Big Brother as well."
- Review: Confident and convincing Jeremy Vine proves he’s got the Wright Stuff to make Channel 5 mornings his own
- Matthew Wright explains his decision to leave Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff
- Roxanne Pallett quits Celebrity Big Brother 2018 following ‘punching’ row
In her first interview after leaving the Big Brother house (below), 35-year-old Roxanne admitted to Vine that she had "really got it wrong" over the Ryan Thomas 'punch' row.
Later that same evening viewers praised CBB host Emma Willis for her "intense" interview with the former soap star.
While Wright said that he might have been tougher with the interview than Vine, he also cautioned against putting Roxanne "through the ringer".
"For everything that she did that was vile and unfair towards Ryan, it’s very interesting that the people that go out and say ‘you’re a bully or ‘you’re cruel,’ they don’t realise that by the time they’ve run Roxanne through the ringer, that they themselves have become bullies and cruel," he told This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langford.
"At the moment I feel very much for Ryan, but I also feel for Roxanne, because even though she might have made mistakes and even though she’s done it before, nobody deserves that every day."
Wright explained his decision not to tune in for Jeremy Vine on Channel 5 by saying simply, "Don't look back, look forward."
The chat show presenter revealed in May that he was stepping down from The Wright Stuff after 18 years at the helm.
Looking back on the decision, he told ITV that a number of personal issues contributed to the decision.
"Channel 5 decided to move it to a different production company to freshen it up. Not long after that decision, a good friend of mine decided to kill himself, which was very sad," he explained.
"My wife and I, quite well known, we’d had long running IVF. Eight years of IVF, no joy. So personally things were pretty stressed and strained.
"Got to Christmas, all my colleagues I’d worked with the best part of 18 years, nearly all of them were made redundant, I found that really difficult, and then I started a new production with a new team, and suddenly overnight it just stopped being fun anymore, and I’d always told myself, 'If it stops being fun, get out.'"
Jeremy Vine currently presents his Channel 5 show weekdays from 9.15am. Matthew Wright now presents his new afternoon radio show on talkRADIO from 1-4pm
