Phillip Schofield is angry about how his affair and exit from ITV has been portrayed using negative words – and thinks the reaction would have been different if it was with a female colleague.

The former ITV host, 62, makes it unclear he is unhappy with how his exit was reported on by the media when he appears on screen in his new channel 5 series He left following an affair with a younger male colleague which he had lied about to both ITV and his agents.

On Phillip Schofield : Cast Away, he says: “Shamed, disgraced Phillip Schofield. Who had an affair. But strangely, I think another TV Presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing. Difference is, heterosexual. It’s not unusual thing in the gay world for there to be a difference in age groups. That’s not that unusual in the straight world, but if that had been the case with me and it had been a woman. Pat on the back. Well done mate.”

Schofield, 62, came out as gay in February 2020 but whilst on the desert Island he admits it was not as freeing for him as it can be for some people and came with its own problems. In the opening episode he explains: “I’m very proud of what I did, and I know that coming out for many people is liberating….but for me doing it later in life, at the moment it’s just given me more anguish than joy because I am fully aware of the damage that is leaves.”

The former TV presenter reflects on his affair during his time on the island

Schofield walked away from his job at ITV when news of his affair were made public. On May 26 last year Schofield said in a statement: “I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.

“I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me. I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it.”

 

He has not been on TV since and many people have seen the new series as a chance for him to relaunch himself and his career if it is well received. In a lighter moment on the show he says often on family holidays he would build chairs on the beach out of sand and he tried to create one of his dessert island. But something goes slightly wrong with the design and laughing he says it looks more like a grave. He says: Maybe this is what retirement feels like? And I absolutely refuse to you know sit in a rocking chair and do nothing. I want to explore. Maybe getting to this stage in your life is about setting new challenges.”

*Phillip Schofield: Cast Away begins airs at 9pm on Monday on Channel 5, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday at the same time.