Talk show icon Vanessa Feltz appeared to take a swipe at Channel 5 as she marveled at the fact her daytime talk show has been nominated for a top reality TV award just days after it was pulled from the air

Vanessa Feltz has taken a defiant swipe at Channel 5 after the show they axed got nominated for a prestigious TV award. The broadcasting icon saw her daytime talk show, simply titled Vanessa, come to a close this month - just weeks after the broadcaster announced the show would no longer go on.

Now the 64-year-old host has suggested Channel 5 may live to regret their decision to bin off the talk show, as it has been nominated for a National Reality TV Award. Vanessa won the Best Talk Show category at the 2025 ceremony - and, after being nominated for the 2026 bash, appears confident that lightening could strike twice.

Taking to social media over the weekend, she expressed her surprise and bittersweet joy over the fact her show had been nominated for the second year running. She created an Instagram reel that showed a message inviting her to attend a ceremony along with a photo of her triumphantly lifting the award at the 2025 event.

She added a caption to the Reel which stated: "POV you find out you've been nominated again for the award you won last year - but the show is over!" The short video clip included a screenshot of a message she had received from the National Reality TV Awards.

The message acknowledged that Vanessa's Channel 5 show had been axed - but also contained happier news. It read: "Hi Vanessa, hope you are well? I know you bid farewell to your show this month but before you leave, just to let you know it was nominated again for the awards on Wednesday."

The message added: "Just wanted to reach out to confirm you will be attending on Wednesday?" And the next image showed the TV star beaming in a pink dress while holding her 2025 award.

In a separate caption posted alongside the Reel on her main grid, Vanessa wrote: "OMG. Have just heard @vanessafeltzon5 has been nominated for Best Daytime Show at the @nationalrealitytvawards."

She added: "We won last year. This year the show is over. Such a shame for all of us! Congratulations to the wonderful team who did such a splendid job!!!"

Vanessa has had a long, storied history of talk show troubles. Her Channel 5 show began over on ITV back in the 1990s, where Vanessa was joined by a live studio audience. She would try to resolve issues her audience faced, but the series was canned in 1998 after four years on air.

Channel 5 revived the series in 2025 and updated the format so that the host was joined by three guests who she would discuss news stories with. Members of the public were welcomed to phone in to the show to contribute to the discussions - however, this may have contributed to the series' demise.

Viewers began to call with hoax personalities - frequently pretending to be soap characters and reciting storylines from EastEnders and passing off the events as true dilemmas. Hoax callers also confronted some of Vanessa's guests over their treatment of fellow celebrities - with one challenging Nicola McLean over her time in the Celebrity Big Brother house where she clashed with late TV star Kim Woodburn.

It has been reported that poor ratings and the continued bombardment of hoax calls led to Channel 5 bosses pulling the plug on Vanessa's show.

Appearing emotional when her show reached a climax earlier this month, Vanessa told viewers in her closing moment: "I feel very, very sad this is the last show. To anybody who is sending me nice messages, I really appreciate it." She added: "I’m going to end up snivelling and sobbing. I’m OK at the moment, but I could go at any moment so bear with.”

She bowed out with guests Daniella Westbrook, Cosmo Landesman and Lizzie Cundy and was surprised by daughter Saskia and grandson AJ, who entered the set and the end with bunches of flowers. Saskia told her mum: "We've come to surprise you. We knew today was going to be hard. We absolutely love you and couldn't be more proud of what you've done on this show."

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .