A-List celebrities planned to ‘ambush’ Phillip Schofield live on This Morning, report claims
At least four A-List actors and well-known TV faces had planned to “ambush” Phillip Schofield live on This Morning with allegations about his behaviour, a new report claims.
It has not been made clear exactly what happened between Schofield and Holly Willoughby to put their relationship on the rocks, although reports claim Willoughby was “deeply upset” that Schofield held back details about his brother’s sexual abuse activity from her. Schofield’s brother was recently jailed for 12 years for sexually abusing a boy.
Speaking about the planned ambush attempts by celebrities on Schofield, an ITV source told the Mail Online: “The growing paranoia about what could go wrong was engulfing the management. They got through four days without any major disasters, even though it was obvious Holly and Phil’s friendship was over.
“But if Holly had been put in the position of having to try and defend him from an attack on his reputation during the show by a regular or celebrity guest, it would have been an impossible position for her.
“Everyone decided it would be irresponsible to put Phillip back on air, even for him to wish a final farewell to viewers. But that’s an extraordinary thing to do to a host after 20 years on air.”
The paper did not name the celebrities allegedly involved in the ambush attempt.
There have been rumours circulating around Schofield’s on-set behaviour for years. In 2019, the Mail broke a story that Schofield was allegedly “furious” that he’d been sidelined in favour of an all-female presenting team for International Women’s Day.
“But Phillip was furious about the plans and went over Holly’s head to Frizell’s boss Gormley to put a stop to them,” writes Dan Wootton.
“As a result, Holly was only allowed to host the first section of the show surrounded by the show’s female production staff, while Phillip was dispatched to a café down the road for a live item.”
Schofield’s future on shows like Dancing On Ice have yet to be confirmed by ITV, although Schofield confirmed he’d make a public appearance at the Soap Awards next month in his post announcing his departure from This Morning.
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