Phillip Schofield reveals shock reason behind This Morning axe (Picture: ITV)
Phillip Schofield has blamed his paedophile brother for being sacked from This Morning.
Schofield announced he’d resigned from This Morning on May 20, 2024, following weeks of speculation surrounding his fractured friendship with Holly Willoughby. Six days later he left ITV completely with immediate effect after admitting to an affair with a much younger This Morning colleague.
The former presenter, 62, returns to television tonight in a three-part documentary titled Cast Away, which sees Schofield stranded on a deserted island off the coast of Madagascar for 10 days, reflecting on the last 16 months as a ‘cancelled TV presenter’.
During the third and final episode, he claims the negative publicity surrounding his brother Timothy Schofield, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for child abuse on May 19, 2023, was the real reason he was given the boot from the daytime TV show after 21 years.
Schofield said the day before the sentencing, his agent told him: ‘I’m afraid you’ve been let go from This Morning. That’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday.’
Schofield recalls his agent blaming the bad publicity around his brother for impacting his position on This Morning.
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‘I was fired for the bad publicity for someone else’s crime,’ he says. ‘The thing is about a week later I blew my own wheels off with everything else because I thought the only way to even begin to put this right for everybody is to do a full mea culpa.
‘I came clean about my affair but what people don’t realise is I wasn’t fired when I admitted lying – it was before because of someone I used to call brother.’
At the time, Schofield confirmed his exit from This Morning in a statement that read: ‘Throughout my career in TV – including in the very difficult last few days – I have always done my best to be honourable and kind.
‘I understand that ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love.
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‘We accept his resignation from ITV and therefore can confirm that he will not be appearing on ITV as had previously been stated.’
Schofield takes several swipes at ITV during Cast Away, fuming at being ‘thrown under the bus’ and ruling out ever appearing on I’m A Celebrity! because ‘there are just some channels you never work with again’.
He also makes a clear dig at Holly Willoughby, mocking her statement on This Morning when she asked viewers: ‘Are you ok?’
ITV has been approached for comment on this story.
Phillip Schofield Cast Away airs for three nights from Monday 30th September at 9pm on Channel 5, available to stream on My5.
Source:: Metro
