Did Billy Bush’s off-air antics prompt Nancy O’Dell to bid farewell to Access Hollywood after 13 years as its host?

Nancy had appeared on the NBC nightly entertainment magazine since its inception in 1996. She shared co-hosting duties with Billy Bush since the firing of alcoholic Pat O’Brien in 2004. However, Nancy left her post last Friday — without much fanfare and little notice for fans — and celebrity tatles blame Billy for the departure. Word on The Snitch Circuit claims Bush is driven to become “the next Ryan Seacrest” and regularly leaves a hurricane of hurt feelings in his wake on the road to superstardom.

“The atmosphere at ‘Access Hollywood’ is like walking on a landmine because of Billy,” the insider dished. “He throws tantrums and tirades and oftentimes for no apparent reason. It was one of several things that had Nancy at her wit’s end after 13 years,” the snitch added.

Nancy reportedly complained numerous times to executive producer Rob Silverstein about Bush’s behavior, but to no avail.

“Nancy was still subjected to Billy’s outbursts and blow-ups on set, just like everyone else was….Billy would go so far as to curse out producers for not writing the copy in a way he liked it, and would really go off if they assigned him to read a story that he felt was beneath him.”