Phillip Schofield’s much-anticipated TV comeback finally hit screens on Monday night, with the disgraced presenter vowing to tell his side of the story in an ‘unedited and honest way.’
But mere minutes into the first episode of his Channel 5 series Cast Away, viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being ‘less remorseful than he claims,’ after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby.
During the show, Phillip discusses his bitter parting of ways with ITV and This Morning, which he hosted for 21 years, while fending for himself on a remote island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar.
Phillip, 62, was ousted from This Morning in May last year, after he admitted to lying about his relationship with a much younger male colleague.
Holly distanced herself from her former best friend and during a ‘highly strategised’ return to the This Morning sofa in June 2023, she told viewers she had been left ‘shaken, let down and worried.’
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Phillip Schofield ‘s much-anticipated TV comeback finally hit screens on Monday night, with the disgraced presenter vowing to tell his side of the story in an ‘unedited and honest way.’
When she returned, she began by saying: ‘Hello, Firstly, are you okay? I hope so. It feels very strange sat here without Phil.’
Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island.
He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: ‘If you’re ok, then we’re ok, and I’m ok… are you ok?’
No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip’s series an ‘ego trip’, before claiming he’s clearly ‘not as remorseful as he claims.’
Posts on X included: ‘Ooooh was that a cheeky dig at Holly Willoughby there Phillip? Are you OK; Are you OK… THAT HOLLY DIG!’
‘Schofe’s about to draw a smiley face on a volleyball and call it ”Willoughby”
Holly’s said in the original statement that it: ‘Feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have.
‘Shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions’.
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But viewers were quick to accuse the presenter of being ‘less remorseful than he claims,’ after he made a supposed dig at his former This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby
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Appearing to reference the now-famous speech on Cast Away, Phillip is seen having a BBQ with his family before heading off to the island
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He gives out food to his wife Stephanie and their daughters Molly, 31, and Ruby, 28, and laughs: ‘If you’re ok, then we’re ok, and I’m ok… are you ok?’
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No mention of Holly is made in the clip, but fans were quick to clock the jibe, with one branding Phillip’s series an ‘ego trip’
‘All of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process’.
‘It’s equally hard to see the toll it’s taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal for the health and wellbeing of everyone.’
She added: ‘I hope that as we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that the show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.
‘And from the heart, can I just say thank you for all your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every day.’
Phillip stunned the nation when he revealed he would be making his TV comeback in the Channel 5 series Cast Away, which sees him fend for himself for 10 days on a remote island paradise.
In the first episode, Phillip told how he had ‘everything in place’ for a suicide attempt, but decided against it when his eldest daughter Molly persuaded him not to, in the wake of his exit from This Morning.
He said: ‘In the last eighteen months, it got as dark as it is possible to get.
He explained: ‘Molly and Ruby both looking after me at the time, and Molly said: ‘Do you imagine what this would do to us if you actually managed to pull this off? Can you imagine what would happen and can you imagine what it would do to me if you did this on my watch?’
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The first episode of Phillip’s Cast Away series saw him taken to the remote island, begin his quest for 10 days of survival, all the while discussing the impact his ITV exit had on him
‘That was just enough, just enough to take a step back from the edge. I could have been hospitalised, I just raced to the family home and shut the gates and I was in there.’
He later paid tribute to his wife Stephanie Lowe, Molly, 31, and his youngest daughter Ruby, 28, saying: ‘Without them, I wouldn’t be here.’
Schofield’s return to television comes 16 months after he was forced to apologise to the Mail for lying about his affair with his former This Morning colleague.
He also lied to ITV and his former co-host Holly Willoughby about the romance and he hasn’t worked since.
But during the programme, he addressed the relationship, saying: ‘It’s like the biggest grenade going off in your life. You know you let people down, you know you’ve let yourself down.
‘It was an unwise and unprofessional thing to do. I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake, and I hurt the people around me.’
Schofield’s admission that he had enjoyed the romance came three years after he came out as gay live on This Morning, with Ms Willoughby at this side.
It was a secret he had kept from his entire family and his colleagues but he says he is proud of revealing the truth about his sexuality, saying: ‘I’m very proud of what I did, and I know that coming out for so many people is liberating. And it’s freedom on a plate.
‘Absolutely. Be yourself. Live your life to the absolute full. That’s the saying just live your best life. But for me, doing it later in life, at the moment it’s just given me more, um, anguish than joy, because I’m fully aware of the damage that it leaves.’
Indeed, for his family it was extremely difficult. ‘When my dad came out, it was, it was very hard for me,’ revealed Molly. ‘It was very hard for the entire family. Mainly my mum, of course, everything was turned upside down. But we talked through it and over time it’s got easier.’
Despite the affair and coming out as gay, Schofield wears his wedding ring throughout the show – proving he is still married to Stephanie.
During the show she broke her silence on the scandal, hinting at her own ordeal when she says: ‘What people don’t realise is that they batter you but then there are other people affected.’
Molly, who works as her father’s publicist, adds: ‘We’ve seen him in his lowest times, but I’ve been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him that when it’s taken away it’s just heartbreaking.’
She added: ‘Weirdly everything that’s happened recently has made us closer.’
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His daughter said: ‘We’ve seen him in his lowest times, but I’ve been so proud of him, and as a daughter to see the love that people had for him, when it’s taken away it’s just heartbreaking’
Schofield notably doesn’t mention Holly or his former lover, who he signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement with earlier this year in return for a six-figure payment to him.
He will leave viewers wondering whether he is referring to Holly when he said: ‘When you throw someone under a bus, you’ve got to have a really bloody good reason to do it.’
In another outburst, Schofield said: ‘: ‘I miss most of it. But there are bits that I really, really, really don’t miss. You learn a lot about people. I don’t miss that.’
Since his exit from television, Schofield says he ‘spent days in bed’ where he would watch the news ‘in a daze.’
As for what he thinks of his return to the limelight, Schofield admits he expects little sympathy. ‘I am not doing this as a poor me,’ he says. ‘I don’t think I have a right. I don’t have a right to to a poor me.’
