Eamonn Holmes reveals Phillip Schofield’s secret ‘play time’ with young staffer on ITV’s This Morning

Obnoxious off-camera behaviour, a secret affair, hosts at war and claims of a cover up are threatening the success of one of Britain’s top programs, with a twist even the writers of Morning Wars couldn’t script | WATCH

Phillip Schofield and Eamonn Holmes on This Morning. Picture: ITV.

Forget Kochie’s resignation or Karl Stefanovic’s messy entanglement in a Noosa park bust-up, over in the UK a breakfast TV scandal has erupted that even the writers of Morning Wars would struggle to script.

Obnoxious off-camera behaviour, a secret affair, hosts at war and claims of a cover up are threatening the success of one of Britain’s top-rated programs — and throwing petrol on the fire is a former network star who has just sat down for a tell-all interview about what really happens behind the scenes.

In the space of a week, ITV presenter Phillip Schofield has gone from veteran co-host to public pariah, after confessing to a clandestine extramarital relationship with a young male assistant that has now cost him his £700,000 ($1.32m) a year gig on the This Morning program.

Willoughby and Schofield pose with an award in 2020.

What began with rumours of a falling-out between Schofield, 61, and his co-host Holly Willoughby, 42, rapidly spiralled into a confession of an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a male aide Schofield first met while the other man was reportedly still a teenager.

The younger man, who is not being named by the media but who has been widely pictured with Schofield on social media – was given a job as a tea boy on the program Schofield has hosted for more than 20 years.

Schofield lied to ITV bosses, his wife and his talent management company about the “on-off” affair and was initially allowed to step away from This Morning to work on other projects.

But within days he was forced to come clean by a British tabloid and has since quit the program and been dumped by his management. His wife and two daughters have not yet spoken publicly.

Schofield’s television colleagues, on the other hand, haven’t wasted a second, lining up to reveal his “nasty”, entitled off-camera persona. Even guests from the This Morning couch have come out of the woodwork to speak out about his rude and dismissive behaviour behind the scenes. The show’s former resident doctor claims he was “managed out” after he lodged a bullying complaint over the toxic work culture on the show, while regular guest and broadcaster Kim Woodburn described Schofield as an “obnoxious, horrible man”. The Sun reports up to eight ITV staff had lodged complaints about his behaviour.

Eamonn Holmes and wife Ruth Langsford.

Amid the feeding frenzy, former ITV host Eamonn Holmes – whose wife Ruth Langsford also lodged a complaint about Schofield after he once interrupted her live on-air – has today given a tell-all interview to rival network GB News.

Among the bombshells, Holmes claims Schofield would arrange taxis to “deliver” the young man from his London home to the ITV studios after spending “play time” with him on Thursday nights. He also alleges the young man was “fragile” during his time on the show and was later “promoted against his will” onto another ITV program, Loose Women, in 2018.

“He created an atmosphere where people hated him, people would avoid him in the corridor, he didn’t look at anybody, he didn’t know anybody’s names,” Holmes said of Schofield, claiming ITV had deliberately covered up the affair while the host’s “controlling, coercive behaviour” towards colleagues was allowed to go unchecked.

“Everything at ITV was geared towards making Phillip and Holly happy, no one else counted.

“Nobody rates him (as a TV presenter) He can’t read autocue, he has big wide eyes, he shouts when he speaks, he’s rude to everybody around him.

“When there was talk of Phillip having an affair with the young man, that man was ‘promoted’ from This Morning to another program.

“This lad, lovely fella, talented fella … we knew he was in a bad way.

“He seemed to go through a lot of money in his life … he needed a lot of money for whatever reason.

“It was a total cover up, those in authority had to know what was going on.”

Holmes and Langsford supported Schofield in 2020 when he used the This Morning couch to come out as gay while still married to his wife. The story garnered him an outpouring of public support, goodwill he and Willoughby squandered earlier this year when the pair was caught jumping the queue to visit Queen Elizabeth lying in state.

In April, Schofield’s brother Timothy, a civilian police worker, was found guilty of sexual offences involving a child between 2016 and 2019.

Schofield, who has found support from some former colleagues like Piers Morgan, has released a series of public statements in recent days, admitting he deceived people about the relationship but vehemently denying anything illegal.

“Now I no longer work on @thismorning 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,” Schofield wrote on Tuesday.

“This morning IS the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked 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 IS a family of wonderful, talented, kind, hard working people.”

Speculation has now turned to the future of Willoughby, who is facing calls to resign, as well as the show bosses and network executives.

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries said Willoughby had “questions to answer”.

“I don’t think you will ever see Holly Willoughby back on the couch,” Holmes said.

“This is about brand protection for her. She has got her company and she has got advertising deals.”

Schofield first shot to fame in the 1980s as host of a children’s TV show called The Broom Cupboard, co-starring a hand puppet called Gordon the Gopher. Alongside his This Morning duties, he’s also fronted Dancing on Ice and game show The Cube.