Chris Tarrant has blasted TV rival Phillip Schofield as ‘overexposed’(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Chris Tarrant has blasted Phillip Schofield as “the most overexposed man ever”.

Tarrant, 78, is known for hosting hit TV shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Tiswas. But he is not a fan of fellow former ITV star Schofield. Schofield quit ITV in 2023 after he admitted lying about an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a man 34 years his junior who had worked on the daytime show. At the time he said his TV career was finished but he attempted to resurrect himself on screen with a Channel 5 series called Cast Away in 2024.

Referring to the Cast Away show, Tarrant said: “There was not a hint of apology or ‘maybe I was a little bit out of order’. Christ Almighty.”

He then told the Sunday Telegraph he thought Schofield “lost the plot” after fame went to his head. Tarrant added: ”He was the most overexposed man ever, maybe apart from Wogan at his peak.

“But Terry was on all the time because he was very good, funny and likeable, and bright as a button. I loved him. Schofield, they always said, ‘Oh, but he’s a safe pair of hands.’ Did anyone ever say, ‘Ooh, it’s five to eight, got to get home quick because the safe pair of hands is on?’ Dear oh dear. Those shows he did – Dancing On Ice, The Cube, everything – were mainly crap.”

Chris is not a fan of Phillip Schofield

Nature loving Tarrant, who was giving the interview to promote a new book he has written about bears, also moaned about too many adverts on ITV where he used to work on quiz show Millionaire.

He said he mainly watched streaming services now for this reason and added: “We always used to say, ‘See you in a couple of minutes,’ but how long are the breaks now? Five or six minutes!

“I watch Netflix and Amazon Prime. Then I turn on an ITV drama and say, ‘What? It’s only been on three minutes and we’ve got a break!’ And the sponsors and all that. When will it happen that the commercials are longer than the programme?”

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Tarrant insisted he had now watched Jeremy Clarkson on quiz Millionaire who was his replacement. He claimed he had no interest in watching because he knew the format so well and he had “the best of it, the glory years”.

Tarrant now lives in a posh Berkshire property with his partner Jane Bird of 20 years.

He has six children, including two stepchildren and six grandchildren aged three to 13 and rather than looking for any more work loves going on holidays. Sometimes two in quick succession.

“There is a glorious freedom in being able to travel without planning around work schedules,” he said.

“I’ll tell you the sort of thing. This winter, after Christmas, we went on holiday to the Caribbean for five or six weeks.

“We got home about mid-February and it was bloody freezing. It went on and on, so I was like, ‘F*** this, let’s go back again. That’s called enjoying retirement.”

* Tarrant’s book ‘For the Love of Bears’ (Great Northern, £25) will be published on July 11.