BREAKING: This Morning SCANDAL leaves Phillip Schofield’s ITV career ‘WIPED OUT IN THREE MINUTES’ at National Television Awards
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 15: Phillip Schofield attends the ITV Palooza 2022 on November 15, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images) (Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Phillip Schofield’s two-decade career at ITV was “wiped out in three minutes” at the National Television Awards, it has been suggested. In a harsh assessment of a montage at the glamorous awards ceremony this week, a journalist has highlighted that Schofield’s “30-year” contributions to ITV were conspicuously absent, despite the inclusion of his former co-presenter, Holly Willoughby. The ex-This Morning presenter suddenly departed the flagship ITV programme in May 2023 following his admission to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague and has remained out of the public eye since.
Schofield, who also fronted Dancing on Ice alongside Willoughby, additionally revealed in a statement confirming his departure at the time that the “consensual on-off relationship” was “now over”. Despite a short-lived television comeback with Channel 5’s Cast Away in 2024, Schofield has predominantly kept a low profile following the controversy, reports the Mirror.
And now one observer has implied his 30-year ITV tenure has been “deleted” after his absence from a poignant montage at the National Television Awards.
The Daily Mail’s Ephraim Hardcastle writes: “Phillip Schofield’s 20-year career at ITV was erased in three minutes at Wednesday’s National Television Awards.
“While his erstwhile This Morning partner Holly Willoughby featured, he was not mentioned in a montage showcasing 70 years of ITV’s stars. Not even a jokey, ‘Whatever happened to Phil whatsisname?!'”
Schofield inked his first exclusive deal with ITV in 1993 and became best known for helming This Morning from 2002-2023 and Dancing On Ice intermittently between 2006 and 2023.
He stepped down after the controversy emerged in 2023.
Schofield also delivered an apology for deceiving his colleagues, bosses, the public and the media.
An ITV spokesperson expressed they were “deeply disappointed by the admissions of deceit” made by the presenter, confirming that it had cut ties with him, reports the BBC.
In additional comments attributed to an ITV spokesperson, they stated: “The relationships we have with those we work with are based on trust.
“Phillip made assurances to us which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.”
Earlier this year, ITV chose to axe Dancing on Ice, which signalled that Willoughby’s 21-year tenure as an ITV presenter had concluded, having initially joined the broadcaster in 2004 on CITV’s Ministry of Mayhem.
She also pulled out of You Bet!, co-presented with Stephen Mulhern, due to scheduling clashes with her reportedly now-cancelled Netflix programme, Celebrity Bear Hunt, featuring renowned TV adventurer Bear Grylls.
In March, a source revealed: “It’s true there is nothing for Holly in the pipeline at the moment but that is unlikely to remain the case in the longterm. ITV has a long and happy history with Holly, our viewers love her, and she’s sure to be back soon.”
