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By SARAH NATHAN
Winner: Christine Bleakley was crowned the Ultimate TV Presenter at the Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women Of The Year awards, despite her ITV morning show Daybreak's shockingly poor ratingsHer breakfast show is losing the ratings war as viewers desert it in droves.
But Christine Bleakley has claimed Daybreak’s poor performance is nothing more than a ‘teething problem’ – and insisted she won’t quit.
The 31-year-old presenter, who defected to ITV from the BBC in a £4million deal to launch the programme with former One Show colleague Adrian Chiles, admitted the job has left her ‘exhausted’.
But despite Daybreak’s slump to 530,000 viewers last week – just a third of the ratings of its rival, BBC Breakfast – Miss Bleakley claimed it was performing as well as expected.
She said: ‘It’s been a strange few months, it’s been rather up and down. But we always knew it was going to be hard. We knew going in that the ratings would drop, we were waiting for it – and people are treating it like it’s something unexpected.
‘It’s always difficult to launch a new show and I’m exhausted – getting up at 3am every day takes its toll on you – but I’m not going anywhere.
‘It’s unfortunate other people don’t quite believe in us yet.’
Bad star: But Bleakley, pictured here with her Daybreak co-host Adrian Chiles, said the bad ratings were just due to 'teething problems'One million tuned in to see the first Daybreak show when it replaced GMTV in September.
But the numbers have been sliding ever since. On Tuesday this week, the programme managed to attract almost 800,000 viewers – but BBC Breakfast had around 1.6million tuning in.
Miss Bleakley said: ‘It’s a tough sort of job and we always knew it was going to be and that’s not a shock to us at all. Any wee show has its teething problems and that’s kind of how we see it.’
TV insiders revealed that a focus group for the show felt Mr Chiles was ‘too grumpy’ for the morning and they wanted ‘bright and breezy’ male hosts – but they preferred gentler, more ‘mumsy’ types for their female breakfast presenters.
Picking up the prize: Bleakley was awarded the gong by Westlife, and posed with two of the group afterwardsChristine was speaking at the awards ceremony at the Banqueting House in London, where other winners included Doctor Who beauty Karen Gillan, who took home the Ultimate UK TV Actress award.
Fellow redhead, Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts - who launched her own make-up range for pale skin this year - was named Ultimate Fashionista.
Roberts' bandmate Kimberley Walsh also attended the event, as she was on a panel of celebrity judges who selected the winners of the awards recognising the bravery and achievements of the nation's non-celebrity women.
Walsh was joined on the panel by Cosmopolitan editor Louise Court, Cosmopolitan's agony aunt Irma Kurtz, The Apprentice advisor and businesswoman Karren Brady, TV presenter Reggie Yates and former Spice Girl Mel B.
Winners: Alexandra Burke won Ultimate UK Music Star and Sheridan Smith was awarded Ultimate Theatre Star
High fashion: Nicola Roberts in BodyAmr, who took home Ultimate Fashionista, lived up to her newly crowned title
Glamorous: Presenter Kelly Brook looked chic in a dark ensemble, while celebrity panel member Kimberley Walsh vamped it up with on-trend purple lipstickCourt said: 'I have been honoured to once again celebrate the achievements of such deserving people.
'The women that have been recognised tonight are truly inspirational and all embody the 'fun and fearless' spirit of the magazine.'
Katie Piper - whose bravery after an acid attack led to her offering other burns victims a lifeline through her charity, The Katie Piper Foundation - won the Ultimate Editor's Choice award.
Grime artist Dizzee Rascal was presented with the Ultimate Man of the Year award.
Stars of the night: Fearne Cotton won Ultimate Celebrity Who Made Us Care while Doctor Who star Karen Gillan took home Ultimate UK TV ActressAnd former Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps star Sheridan Smith picked up the Ultimate Theatre Star award for her role in the West End hit Legally Blonde: The Musical.
Former X Factor winner Alexandra Burke picked up the award for Ultimate UK Music Star and TV presenter Fearne Cotton, who last year climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief and recently took part in a celebrity trek around Peru for Breast Cancer Care, was named Ultimate Celebrity Who Made Us Care.
American model Crystal Renn was given the Ultimate Catwalk Queen award.
She has written an autobiography, Hungry, about her battle with anorexia after getting into the industry and becoming a successful plus-size model.
Boys in the house: Former X Factor stars Olly Murs and Joe McElderry attended, along with West End star of Sister Act Simon Webbe
source: dailymail
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