Holly Willoughby’s new lifestyle show on YouTube was always going to be compared to her old programme, This Morning.

In fact, bosses at ITV were said to be ‘green with envy’ when they learned that her show, Together, would also feature segments on food, fashion, life and beauty.

And now, The Mail on Sunday can reveal, they appear to have gone to war with their former golden girl, who hosted the ITV show for 14 years.

They swooped in to entice two of her guests on to This Morning before the episodes they had already filmed with Ms Willoughby, 45, were released on YouTube.

Sources believe this happened after the guests were named on a press release to promote the launch of Together a fortnight ago.

On Thursday, Ellen Roome, whose 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in April 2022 after what she believes was an ‘online challenge gone wrong’, was interviewed by This Morning hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond – five days before Ms Willoughby’s pre-recorded episode featuring Ms Roome was set to go out on YouTube.

Bosses at ITV appear to have gone to war with Holly Willoughby following the launch of her new lifestyle show on YouTube

Ms Willoughby’s YouTube channel has had 141,000 views so far

And food bloggers Original Flava cooked on the show on Wednesday ahead of the release of their appearance on Together, which will see them in the kitchen with Ms Willoughby.

A source familiar with the bookings said: ‘There is no way that this is a coincidence.

‘Ellen Roome has been bravely fighting her fight for a long time but This Morning have never had her on.

‘As soon as they saw the press release, they’ve booked guests to get them on before Holly’s viewers get to see them. You hate to think it, but it feels a bit like sabotage.

‘Holly’s team put out a press release in good faith to share what was coming up, in between then and the episodes going live This Morning have swept in and grabbed her guests. ITV must be very jealous indeed.’

In October 2023 – five months after her co-host Phillip Schofield was ousted – Ms Willoughby suddenly quit This Morning when she was told by police that they had foiled former security guard Gary Plumb’s plot to kidnap, rape and murder her.

She was left so terrified that she struggled to leave her home for several months.

She made a return to ITV on Dancing On Ice in 2024 but later turned down a role to host a reboot of the game show You Bet!.

This Morning is now primarily hosted by Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard but their viewing figures are much lower than when Ms Willoughby and Schofield fronted the show.

In its heyday, the programme attracted audiences of 3 million. Now, it struggles to pull in 500,000 viewers per episode. O’Leary and Ms Hammond present the show on Fridays.

Meanwhile, despite the first episode of Together – released last Tuesday and featuring actor Stanley Tucci – being panned by critics, Ms Willoughby is thrilled with her viewing figures so far. Including an initial teaser video, the YouTube channel has had 141,000 views.

‘Holly is very, very happy,’ said one friend. ‘The numbers tell the truth, and she is thrilled that there have been so many views. She was nervous and she knows she’s not everyone’s cup of tea.’

Ms Willoughby has beaten her former ITV co-stars Ant and Dec and Davina McCall’s viewing numbers in the last week.

The first episode of Together had 59,000 views after four days, while an episode of Hanging Out with Ant and Dec, released a day earlier, had 19,000.

Ms McCall’s show, which featured an interview with physicist Brian Cox and was put on YouTube on Thursday, has 31,000 views.