Piers Morgan to quit Britain's Got Talent

Piers Morgan will quit Britain's Got Talent for the chance to become the first Englishman to host a prime-time chat show in the United States.

Piers Morgan is in talks to take over from veteran US chat show host Larry King Photo: AP

The 45-year-old is within days of striking a £5.5 million deal with network CNN to replace its veteran chat show host Larry King.

King, 76, has hosted the nightly Larry King Live show for 25 years but, within the last year, ratings have slumped by nearly half.

Mr Morgan, former editor of The Mirror, is a familiar face on the rival NBC network, where he is a judge on the hit show America's Got Talent.

He has also been a guest host on the channel's breakfast show. NBC wants him to stay and has offered him a show which would be the equivalent of his ITV series, Piers Morgan's Life Stories, on which he recently interviewed former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

However, it could prove too hard to resist a deal worth close on £1.4 million a year to replace Mr King, one of America's highest-paid TV stars on £4.8 million a year.

A television source said: "CNN bosses have been desperately searching for somebody to revamp the show. Larry's ratings are massively down year on year – and Piers is just the chap.

"Piers is utterly thrilled by the prospect of the deal and knows that taking over the Larry King show means that something will have to give.

"America's Got Talent finishes in mid-September, so it seems Larry will be moved to a weekend show then and be ousted from his nightly prime-time slot.

"Piers has discussed it all with Simon Cowell, who gave him his big break onAmerica's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent, and has his blessing.

It definitely looks like he will have to give up Britain's Got Talent as NBC want him to continue on America's Got Talent, which opened to record ratings earlier this month.'

Landing a nightly prime-time show in the States would be a feat not even achieved by the legendary Sir David Frost, who famously interviewed President Richard Nixon after Watergate.