James Martin has revealed the real reason he decided to leave Saturday Kitchen after presenting the popular cooking show for ten years. During an appearance on Wednesday's Good Morning Britain, the celebrity chef explained how it was down to the sudden death of a stranger which had made him consider his position. "I was chatting to him and he stood up on stage and collapsed and passed away in front of me," he explained to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.
"That was just over a year ago and that was the decision to change," he added. "I look back at all the work I'd done, I'd done like four days off that year and five days off the year before and I thought something's got to change. And that was partly the reason why I gave up the Saturday Morning show."
© Photo: Getty ImagesJames Martin has revealed the real reason he left Saturday Kitchen
Earlier this week, James - who is now back on TV with his new food travel series James Martin's French Adventure - confessed he was surprised with the outpour of love he received from fans when he announced his departure. "I didn't think there would be any fuss to be honest," he told Evening Times. "I'd done it for 10 years, I didn't think there'd be the fuss that there was but little did I know… it was a shock, to be honest."
He also hinted popular daytime show, Ready Steady Cook, could be making a return to our television screens. The 44-year-old, who appeared on the show as a guest chef during its run on the BBC between 1994 and 2010, explained how the series has an incredible format and it would be a "waste" for it to disappear.
© Photo: Getty ImagesJames is back on TV with his new food travel series James Martin's French Adventure
"I'm sure (Ready Steady Cook) will be coming back," he added. "It's too good a format for it to disappear in the ether. Times will change and things will come round again. But when you think that show was everywhere at that particular moment in time, that was all over the place, it was a regular thing in the afternoons every weekday and on Friday and Saturday nights we used to do the celebrity ones, which were massive."
