Inside Denise van Outen & Johnny Vaughan’s feud as they reunite… including shocking reason they didn’t talk for 7 years
THEIR on-screen chemistry on the Big Breakfast made them one of Britain’s most lovable TV couples.
Way before Holly Willoughby and disgraced Phillip Schofield were a hit on This Morning, Denise Van Outen and Johnny Vaughan were the darlings of 90s television.
Denise often played up her Essex girl background while Johnny joked his way through off-the-wall segments.
Their saucy banter, flirtatious exchanges and electric chemistry had viewers convinced they were a real-life couple, despite both being in long-term relationships.
The presenters were as popular as the Channel 4 programme’s original hosts Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, who were at the helm for two years from its launch in 1992.
Social media went into meltdown this week when Denise and Johnny reunited to co-host Channel 4s Steph’s Packed Lunch – with fans begging for a return of the iconic partnership.
They brought back the chaotic atmosphere of the Big Breakfast with live arm-wrestling and one of their old games, More Tea Vicar.
Their reunion appeared to signal the end of their tumultuous 23-year on-off feud which was sparked by a pay row in 1999 and saw Denise quit the Big Breakfast.
Denise and Johnny even poked fun at their dispute on Steph’s show during a funny First Dates-inspired skit.
When asked by the cameraman if they would like to see each other again, Denise, 49, joked: “The only thing is, he talked a lot about how he used to make more money than me, but that’s fine.”
Johnny, 56, and Denise joined the Big Breakfast – watched by two million viewers in its heyday – in 1997.
Denise left abruptly almost two years later.
Model Kelly Brook was brought in for a few months to replace her, but it was a disaster as she struggled to pronounce big words like ‘intrepid’ and ‘satirical’.
Liza Tarbuck was then drafted in, but viewers missed Denise and Johnny and ratings plummeted.
Denise returned briefly before the show’s cancellation in 2002, but it wasn’t the same.
She later revealed she quit in 1999 because Johnny was negotiating a separate pay deal from her, which she claimed “tarnished” their close relationship.
She told Loose Women in 2017: “I had a big fall out with Johnny Vaughan, who I did Big Breakfast with, and at that time we were like brother and sister. We were best friends – unbreakable.
“The whole relationship fell apart when we started to renegotiate our contracts because I always felt we worked together as a team and that’s how it should be.
“We created it together. Not just us but the rest of the team working on the show. I always had that mentality that it was about all of us.
“But Johnny – and I know there are other influences involved, and agents and everything – but he was negotiating separately from me, which I found out and obviously confronted him.
“I realised then at that point that our friendship had gone in two different directions and for me it was tarnished.”
The pair worked together again two years later, hosting BBC game show Passport to Paradise, and teamed up for the Capital Radio Breakfast show in London in 2008.
But the old magic didn’t emerge and Denise quit mid-way through her contract.
She later claimed: “I was nervous about doing radio on my own because I was made to feel I wasn’t capable of doing it on my own by Johnny.
“I think he knocked my confidence a bit.”
She accused Johnny of turning down her microphone while she was presenting – something he vehemently denied.
Denise said: “He wouldn’t let me speak, would tell me when I should and shouldn’t speak and would also constantly not mention that we were joint presenters.
“It was always, ‘This is Johnny Vaughan, you are listening to Capital Radio’, and there was no mention of my name.
‘I was on the other side of the desk. He had control of the desk and when I would go to speak he would fade my microphone down.”
Johnny later said he was shocked by the comments and assumed Denise must have been joking, saying: “It must be humour.
“She must be taking the p**s because anyone who has ever known me in radio knows that I can’t operate any of the machines.”
They didn’t speak for seven years after the spat, but in March 2021 Denise revealed that they had grown closer again.
Denise, who split from cheating partner Eddie Boxshall last year, said: “We have been speaking a lot recently. We’ve been on-and-off as friends for years for various reasons.”
This week the pair appeared to have put the past behind them once and for all.
Denise said: “A lot of my friends, that’s never happened with, but I think just ours had combined career and work. When it’s a work thing it’s different.”
Johnny, 56, this week told The Sun how the Big Breakfast was such a success because everyone came together to make it work.
He said: “You can’t just have two people doing it as we’ve seen from other male-female double acts doing daytime TV who seem to get along well, you also need a non-toxic team as well.”
He insisted he wasn’t having a dig at This Morning’s Phil and Holly amid claims by ex presenter Eammon Holmes and the show’s Dr Ranj Singh that the culture behind the scenes is toxic.
Speaking about his fallout with Denise, Johnny said: “You can only fall out with someone you really like, you don’t fall out with people you don’t like. And that’s the way of friendship.
“There’s been a couple of ups and downs. But that’s because it’s a real, genuine friendship.”