Inside This Morning wrangling between Cat Deeley and ITV bosses: Star ‘wants Rylan as her co-host’ but is being offered Ben Shephard – as execs tell her she needs to quit her lucrative US jobs before signing

Cat Deeley will have to quit her lucrative job as host of the US reality show she has presented for 18 years if she wants to replace Holly Willoughby as presenter of This Morning, ITV bosses say.

The star, who has been hounded by the channel’s executives since Ms Willoughby quit last October, has been barred from taking time off to film the next series of So You Think You Can Dance later this year, so she faces a dilemma over her future .

Sources at the network say she will receive the standard – and generous – holiday allowance enjoyed by Ms Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, and others before them, namely six weeks’ leave in the summer and a fortnight at both Christmas and Easter.

One told the Mail: ‘Cat won’t get any special treatment, if she signs up she won’t get the time to go back to America.

‘So You Think You Can Dance is a huge commitment. She will have absolutely no time off to film the next series of So You Think You Can Dance.

The star, who has been hounded by the channel’s executives since Ms Willoughby quit last October, has been barred from taking time off to film the next series of So You Think You Can Dance later this year, so she faces a dilemma over her future .

The Mail can also reveal that Ms Deeley, 48, also told friends she wants to host the controversial ITV daytime series with popular Radio 2 presenter Rylan Clark (pictured, left) after joining the program for two episodes with him last November had recorded.

“So she has to make that decision, it’s one or the other.

“Like all those hosts before her, she gets summer vacation, two weeks at Christmas and the same at Easter, and that’s it.”

The Mail can also reveal that Ms Deeley, 48, also told friends she wants to host the controversial ITV daytime series with popular Radio 2 presenter Rylan Clark after capturing the program with him for two episodes last November.

However, ITV wants her to team up with Ben Shephard, who they initially hoped to work with last month’s Mrs Willoughby before pulling out after it emerged there was an alleged plot to kidnap and murder her.

Mr Shephard, who hosts Good Morning Britain twice a week, is believed not to put pen to paper on a deal until he knows who he will be working with.

The upper echelons of ITV are desperate to find Ms Deeley, but sources there say there are ‘several obstacles’ they have to get through.

By the end of last year, they had given up all hope of luring her. Mrs Deeley also says that while she wanted the job ‘if she could make it work’, friends of hers say, her husband Patrick Kielty’s commitments as host of Ireland’s Late Late Show make childcare difficult for them.

He is due to be in Dublin from Tuesday to Friday, while Ms Deeley will present This Morning from Monday to Thursday.

ITV wants her to team up with Ben Shephard (pictured), who they initially hoped to team up with last month’s Mrs Willoughby before pulling out after it emerged there was an alleged plot to kidnap and kill her.

Bosses this morning had a headache finding a replacement for Ms Willoughby, 42 (pictured). After deciding they couldn’t get Mrs. Deeley, they tried to get Emma Willis to take the job, but she couldn’t commit to the four-day work week.

Waiting in the wings is former Channel 5 weather presenter Sian Welby, who impressed program editor Martin Frizell when she stood next to Dermot O’Leary two weeks ago.

Show insiders say daytime television Svengali fell for the “hook, line and sinker” asterisk.

This morning’s bosses had a headache finding a replacement for Ms Willoughby, 42. After deciding they couldn’t get Ms Deeley, they tried to get Emma Willis to take over the job but she couldn’t commit to the four-day working week.