Piers Morgan reveals he quit Good Morning Britain, then renegotiated better contract than female co-stars

Controversial breakfast TV host Piers Morgan has let slip that he threatened to leave Good Morning Britain last summer because of the early starts. 

Morgan, who had previously complained that the physical toll of getting up at 4am was "killing" him, last year told the producers of the ITV show that he was going to walk. 

"I actually quit in the summer. I said, 'I’m out,' because I couldn’t do it any more," he told Radio Times magazine this week. "Then we came to a new arrangement, which is great."

Now Morgan gets into the studio at 5.30am, leaving him just half an hour of prep time before the three-hour show begins. His co-hosts Susanna Reid and Charlotte Hawkins, meanwhile, still arrive at 4am. 

Morgan said: "The only reason, really, I had to go in so early was because the female stars all have to. It takes them longer because they get more attention and pressure on how they look, how their hair is and everything else.

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"I’m lucky – five minutes of slap and on I go… I said, 'Does anyone really care if I come in at 5.30 and we just have a catch-up on the phone?'"

The new contract also allows Morgan more time off to work on other projects, such as his recent documentary series on serial killers.