I’m A Celebrity’s Iain Lee will replace Richard Arnold as he takes a break from Good Morning Britain

GOOD Morning Britain's entertainment guru Richard Arnold revealed he is taking an indefinite break from the ITV show - and I'm A Celeb campmate Iain Lee will fill his showbiz shoes.

The breakfast TV stalwart made his big announcement at the end of his festive segment, which saw him give a round-up of the best Christmas TV.

Richard, 48, has previously told viewers he will be heading to Australia for a sun-soaked festive period and to watch the England cricket team battle it out in the Ashes series.

Instead, TALKRadio DJ Iain, 44, who proved a divisive character Down Under during his time in the reality show, will stand in.

Staying deliberately vague about his return date, perhaps in case he fancied topping up his tan on the Aussie beaches a little while longer, Richard told hosts Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway: "I'm going away for a while.

"Who knows how long?"

Yet his fluffy response as to when he would make his crack-of-dawn comeback concerned many fans as he added: "He's temporarily filling in - but you know what that means in this business!"

The camera then panned to Richard's dressing room in the London studios - where Iain was already warming his seat.

The cheeky chap had scribbled a beard onto a snap of Richard in attempt to make the image look more like himself as he said: "It's just for a few weeks.

"So no pressure!"

Some fans were clearly excited by the switch, with one gushing: "@iainlee filling in for Richard has made my LIFE!!!!! 😍😍😍😍 #GMB."

Yet the majority were saddened by Richard's farewell, and one took to their account to quiz: "@RichardAArnold Where are you going? Hope you won’t be away too long! @GMB won’t be the same without you 😢"

Another put: "Don't go! Missed u last time u disappeared from our screens! Happy Xmas to you and hope to see u in 2018! @RichardAArnold."

Meanwhile a third rounded off with: "I hope you are coming back to gmb as you make the programme with your humour we will all miss your happy face.merry Christmas xx"

Meanwhile this month, ITV producers were keen to shake up things in I'm A Celeb and brought in Iain in as the final star to go into the jungle.

He surprised fans and pundits by reaching the show's final, coming third.

Yet his time in the critter-filled camp wasn't without controversy, as fellow contestants Dennis Wise, Rebekah Vardy and Jamie Lomas were all accused of bullying him.

And this week, Iain admitted that he played up to the cameras during an eating trial.

He ate a pig's genitals in the last Bushtucker Trial of the latest series and says he played up to the cameras.

On his first talkRADIO show since coming out of the ITV show, he told a caller: “Can I let you into a secret? The eating trial wasn’t that bad.

“I was kind of hamming it up a bit."

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