The teenage daughter of TV presenter Chris Tarrant has branded him "pathetic" over the affair which broke up his marriage.

Samantha Tarrant, 18, said she would never forgive her father for his behaviour.

The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host split from wife Ingrid after admitting a seven-year affair with headteacher Fiona McKechnie.

Samantha told First magazine: "I will never fully forgive him. I hope that woman's conscience can cope with the fact she has ruined our family."

"I will miss my dad this Christmas, but he has caused a lot of hurt in our family. Yet he excused his actions as `what boys do'. How pathetic is that? What I really want to ask my dad is this: `Was it worth it?'."

Samantha and her 15-year-old brother Toby will spend Christmas with their mother at their new home in Cobham, Surrey.

She said Tarrant was banned from the family home this Christmas.
"He is welcome to come to our doorstep and say 'Happy Christmas' but that's as far as it goes. It wouldn't be appropriate for him to come inside."

Tarrant, 60, will be with friends but has offered the children an "open invitation" to stop by.

Samantha said: "I would give anything for things to go back to how they were.My mum and dad seemed so happy together last Christmas. Who would have thought this year would be so different?"

"I don't think we'll spend Christmas together as a family again," she said.

Tarrant responded saying: "It is so upsetting and hurtful to have the media come to me with all these comments from my wife and now my daughter."

"I think it is very sad Ingrid, and now Sammy, have said these things publicly."

"It is, of course, a hard time for all of us, and while I remain remorseful, what is all this trying to achieve?"

"Maybe one day, like me, they will remember the happy times,'' the ITV quiz host said.