Well, it looks like we have a definitive winner in the ongoing Maria Menounos-Giuliana Rancic feud.
On Wednesday, Rancic announced that she would be leaving E! News following a year of controversies and co-worker feuds.
No replacement has been announced yet, but Radar Online is reporting that execs have chosen Menounos, and Rancic is outraged that her old job will be given to her longtime rival:
“Maria is beyond excited at the upcoming opportunity to be the anchor for E! News,” says one insider. “She came in gunning for Giuliana’s job and she got it.”
Relations between the two on-air personalities have reportedly been tense from the moment Menounos was hired by the network back in February.
It’s even been rumored that Rancic tendered her resignation as a result of her feud with Menounos.
“They’ve always been rivals. Maria sees Giuliana as competition and it goes back years,” one insider tells Page Six.
“They never speak and they won’t appear on-set together. It’s kind of unspoken that if she is in the building, Giuliana wants nothing to do with her.”
The source adds that after a tumultuous few months that began with the controversy over Rancic’s jokes about Zendaya Coleman’s hair, Giuliana probably would’ve been “forced out” if she hadn’t resigned.
The parting was amicable, and Rancic had planned to go on working for the network in a different capacity, but they may change now that they’ve given her post to Menounos – a move that Giuliana sees as the ultimate insult.