Emily Atack ‘to REPLACE Holly Willoughby

Los Angeles: Emily Atack is reportedly set to replace Holly Willoughby as team captain on Celebrity Juice. The This Morning star announced her departure from the ITV2 series in May following ’12 years of fantastic chaos’.

Emily is said to be joining Celebrity Juice alongside Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore for the upcoming autumn series.

According to a daily newspaper, Emily will fill one of the empty seats on the show following Holly’s exit in May, and fellow team captain Spice Girl Mel B who left in July, citing her ‘hectic’ work schedule.  Holly and Keith’s pal, Fearne Cotton, formed the original panel as a captain, but she left the show in 2018, ten years after the first episode in 2008.

A source said: ‘The show definitely needed a bit of a shake-up and bosses hope Emily and Laura can do that.  ‘It’s one of ITV’s biggest brands and there are still lots of fun to be had with it.

‘Keith can’t wait to ­initiate the new team captains into the show and there are plenty of surprises lined up for viewers.’

Emily made an appearance on Celebrity Juice as a guest in April where she shared a quick smooch with Mel B and earned a bonus point.  In an interview on Sunday Brunch in July, Emily revealed that she’s had to battle stereotypes in the acting world and has been mocked during her previous appearances on comedy panels.

She said:  ‘I have been stereotyped, you know. It has worked in a positive way for me a lot of the time; I started in The In betweeners as the girl-next-door type.

‘You are typecast in the industry after such a big hit like that and I had some amazing roles, lovely, lovely roles, playing the bombshell-type role.

‘But then you get a bit older, things get a bit lower, and all of a sudden you aren’t good enough for those roles anymore.’ As she enters a new phase of her career, Emily intends on taking charge and has a newfound confidence in her own comedic value.

She added: ‘I feel like I have always been that girl in the corner on panel shows to just kind of be the butt of the joke at times, and I just thought ‘No’.’  ‘But doing things like comedy, when you have done things like lads’ mags and I have been a bit of a pin-up for a while, it is hard to all of a sudden come out and say ‘Oh, I’m actually quite clever and quite funny, thank you very much.”