EXCLUSIVE ‘If I’m still getting away with it, I’ll be a happy man’: Phillip Schofield’s comments to his younger lover caught on video as he issues defiant statement amid storm over ‘toxic’ This Morning culture
- READ MORE: Phillip Schofield hits back at growing accusations of ‘toxic’ culture
Phillip Schofield joked about ‘getting away’ with things when asked by his younger lover where he saw himself in the future.
The presenter’s lover was working as an ITV production assistant at the time, and in a showreel filmed in 2014 the pair are seen joking with one another about Schofield’s long career on This Morning.
In the video seen by MailOnline, the 61-year-old presenter – who today issued an extraordinary statement hitting back at claims of a ‘toxic’ work culture – jokes that he ‘can’t find a way out’ of presenting This Morning after having hosted the show for 12 years at the time.
Later in the video, Schofield’s lover muses about what ‘we’ll both be doing’ in three years time, to which the presenter replies: ‘Well, if I’m still getting away with it, I’ll be a happy man.’
The video ends with the production assistant sitting on the famous This Morning sofa alongside Holly Willoughby as he asks her what she makes of his presenting skills.
‘If I’m still getting away with it, I’ll be a happy man’: Phillip Schofield’s comments to his younger lover have resurfaced in an ominous video filmed in 2014
The video ends with the production assistant sitting on the famous This Morning sofa alongside Holly Willoughby as he asks her what she makes of his presenting skills
Willoughby quips: ‘Well that was very good, actually. Tell you what, don’t get too comfy sitting on this sofa – if Phil spots you after that there’ll be trouble.’
As the production assistant jokes, ‘There you go, watch out Scofe’, Schofield jokingly replies: ‘Oi, you b*****d!’
Schofield quit ITV this month after admitting to the Mail that he lied about an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with much younger man.
He also apologised to his wife of almost 30 years, Stephanie Lowe, who stood by him after he came out as gay in 2020.
In a statement today, Schofield slammed ‘a handful of people’ with ‘persistently loud voices’ – and refuted claims of a ‘toxic’ culture at This Morning.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the former presenter said: ‘Now I no longer work on This Morning I am free to say this. I hope you have noticed that it’s the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.
‘This Morning IS the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there there was no toxicity. You can listen to those persistently loud voices if you like.
‘But the thousands of guests over the years, thousands of staff and crew, hundreds of presenters and contributors all know it, it IS a family of wonderful, talented, kind, hard, working people.’
It comes after Dr Ranj Singh, who was a regular guest on This Morning, accused the show of having a ‘toxic’ culture of bullying and discrimination, adding that he had taken his concerns to ‘the top’ but felt he had been ‘managed out’ and was dropped from screens.
After Schofield issued his statement insisting there had been ‘no toxicity’ at This Morning, his former co-star Eamonn Holmes branded him ‘delusional’.
Holmes – who previously helped present This Morning but now works for GB News – issued a scathing response to the statement and said that if Schofield was ‘looking for a fight’ he had ‘picked on the wrong person’.
The presenter’s lover was working as an ITV production assistant at the time (Phillip pictured with his lover and Holly)
Schofield quit ITV on Friday after admitting to the Mail that he lied about an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a much younger man
Speaking out for the first time since leaving the show today, Schofield hit out at those ‘with a grudge against me’
Holmes said that if Schofield was ‘looking for a fight’ he had ‘picked the wrong person’
The 63-year-old tweeted: ‘Schofield has just put out a delusional statement. Like Holly he puts it on Insta Stories so if it goes wrong there is no record after 24 hrs. I’m reluctant to give the liar any more publicity but believe me Pip if u r looking for a fight , u have picked on the wrong person!’
Holmes has been critic of Schofield for a number of years, believing he would get his ‘comeuppance’ for the way he’s treated others – including wife Ruth Langsford.
He and Schofield were never close, but appreciated each other’s broadcasting styles and worked professionally alongside each other.
But all that changed in 2019, when Langsford filed an official complaint against Schofield after being cut off mid-link by the presenter as she was explaining what was coming up on the show during a mini-segment on This Morning.
Schofield said: ‘Guys, we’re going to have to jump in there and stop you I’m afraid because we’re a bit tight for time at this end. Thank you, Ruth.’
A clearly unimpressed Langsford responded: ‘Well I only had about two more words to say,’ and looked away from the camera.
Speaking about the incident in the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine in February 2022, Holmes went public in his condemnation for Schofield, saying his wife is one of many people in the industry to be ‘snubbed’ by the presenter.
Timeline of the Phillip Schofield scandal
September 2022 – Schofield and Willoughby are criticised for failing to queue for the Queen’s Lying in State.
April 2023 – Phillip is absent from This Morning for two weeks while his brother Timothy, 54, is tried at Exeter Crown Court of sexually abusing a teenage boy.
April 3 – Timothy is found guilty of ’emotionally blackmailing’ the teenager into performing sex acts and watching porn with him.
May 10 – Reports emerge Phillip and Holly are ‘barely speaking’, but a day later he issues a statement calling Holly ‘my rock’.
May 15 – The pair present a united front while presenting This Morning, but rumours of a feud continue. The pair are said to have fallen out due to Phillip’s failure to warn Holly of his brother’s assault trial.
May 20 – Schofield announces he is stepping down from This Morning with ‘immediate effect’.
May 22 – Stand-in presenters Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond pay tribute to their former colleague as ‘one of the best live television broadcasters this country has ever had’.
May 26 – Schofield releases a statement admitting he’d had an affair with a ‘much younger’ colleague but then lied about it.
May 27 – Holly blasts Phillip for lying to her.
May 28 – This Morning’s former resident doctor Dr Ranj Singh hits out at the show’s ‘toxic’ culture.
May 29 – Schofield releases a statement denying claims the show had a toxic culture, only from Eamonn Holmes to slam him as ‘delusional’ in a tweet.
He said: ‘Phillip is renowned for snubbing people. He’s very passive-aggressive.
‘It’s up to Ruth to say how she felt, but I was feeling hurt for her. No one would have snubbed me like that.’
He added. ‘I don’t go for presenters who think they have a special privilege or aura or influence.’
Willoughby, his co-host of 13 years, said in a brief statement on Saturday that she asked Scofield directly if the news about the affair was true, and after his denial it had been ‘very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie’.
Today, the show’s stand-in hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary tried to put a lid on the backlash with a brief aside before the daily review of the newspapers – which have splashed the row over their front pages.
Addressing the elephant in the room, Dermot said: ‘We all know we happen to be in the news at the moment and of course we appreciate that. But just from both of us, the crew and the whole team downstairs, we love making this show for you.’
Alison added: ‘Yes, we really do and that’s exactly what we’re going to do, we’re going to continue doing that. Let’s go on with our first news story.’
Guest Gyles Brandreth also made his view clear, telling the hosts: ‘We’re very happy to be here, can I say that?
‘This is a happy place to work, I enjoy coming in here. We are happy people in a happy place with interesting stories.’
The Mail on Sunday told how Schofield was in his late 40s when he first met his lover as he gave a talk to a North-West theatre school. At the time the younger man was 15 and he asked the TV veteran if he would help him land a job in showbusiness. At the age of 18, the teen moved to London and worked on This Morning, at which point they struck up an ‘on-off’ relationship.
And the Mail revealed that while ITV insists that it held an investigation into the men’s relationship when rumours began to circulate in 2020, it is claimed the host’s former lover was not quizzed over the matter.
Calls for an independent inquiry into the scandal gathered pace, with ITV’s most senior bosses under increasing pressure to admit what they knew and when about Schofield’s relationship.
The ex-lover has vowed to not lie about the relationship, which Schofield described as ‘unwise but not illegal’ but has left his 38-year TV career in tatters.
Sources told the Mail the former production assistant insists ‘he was never asked’ about the romance, while another ITV insider said: ‘Everybody just knew about it.’
One source said: ‘It’s time for some truths to be told now, this has been brushed under the carpet for so long and it has to come to an end. The younger man has got to the point now where he won’t lie for anyone but actually, he says he was never asked by ITV about any relationship.
‘It is time that people were held to account, or at the very least explain themselves.’
An ITV spokesman stood firm, saying: ‘Both parties were questioned.’
But the network refused to say when the questioning took place, or who conducted it.
In a blow to ITV, This Morning’s biggest sponsor Arnold Clark has announced it will not be renewing its existing multi-million-pound deal with the channel in autumn as planned.
The car dealer’s multi-year deal with This Morning began in September 2021, but the car dealer has confirmed it will not be renewed when the contract ends later this year.
A source told The Sun: ‘There is a lot of speculation about This Morning’s future and some staff are concerned about their jobs.
‘Phil’s admission of deceit has plunged ITV into a crisis which it has never been faced with before.
‘It is widely known internally that they have lost over £2million in sponsorship deals since Phil’s affair became public.
READ MORE: More photos of Schofield and his younger ex-lover emerge
‘Arnold Clark, who are the main sponsors of This Morning, are also reconsidering their position.
‘Brands do not feel ITV is a safe bet at the moment.’
Another source told The Mirror: ‘The next few weeks will be a desperate bid to save the show – and the jobs of the execs.
‘Fingers are being pointed at the top brass, even though he admitted he lied to all of them.
‘The show’s wholesome image is clearly tarnished, but bullish ITV execs are not going to just throw the baby out with the bath water.
‘They are determined to prove that the brand is stronger than any single presenter, and that they can give it a fresh start after Schofield.’
Willoughby is understood to be battling to maintain her presenting role on the show and hopes to ride out the scandal.
She has currently been off-air since Schofield’s sudden departure, however, this was due to planned holiday for the school half term break.
The presenter of 14-years is expected to make a return to the programme on Monday, June 5.
But Willoughby is facing calls for her to also leave the show, with former culture secretary Nadine Dorries who claimed the much-loved presenter ‘has questions to answer’.
Since Schofield dramatically left the programme earlier this month, photos of the long-time host have been removed from ITV studios in White City.
A large framed picture of Schofield which hung in the TV Centre in London where the show is filmed was also removed.
Some have called for the mid-morning show to be cancelled all together, with the editor who launched it 36 years ago calling for it to ‘die with dignity’ yesterday evening.
Schofield quit ITV after admitting he lied about an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair. Holly Willoughby said in a brief statement it had been ‘very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie’
Dianne Nelmes said the show had become ‘tired’ and was now ‘shipwrecked on scandal’.
She added: ‘The situation is very sad. Whatever has gone on, Phillip has been a stalwart presenter of the show.
‘I don’t think that Holly can hold this show on her own, not even with Alison Hammond which is said to be the favoured outcome. I don’t think Holly can handle it. Phil will be missed.’
An ITV Spokesperson said: ‘This Morning’s current show sponsorship runs until the Autumn and no sponsors have pulled out of ITV.’
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