Given the barrage of hurtful publicity, it’s no wonder insiders dubbed Phillip Schofield’s TV demise on the day a “sofa apocalypse.”
But while Phillip retreats to lick his wounds and Holly Willoughby struggles to survive onscreen, there’s one former This Morning cast member who doesn’t weep over her fate into his morning coffee.
In fact, with a big smile, a long spoon, and a side of ice cream and sprinkles, Eamonn Holmes looks like he’s eating the mess.
He kept coming back to the subject on his live show GB News.
“Anyone who’s watching today and has kissed Phillip Schofield let us know,” he said deadpan this week, poking fun at Schofield for saying the only “mistake” he made in his 41-year career was when he tried to defend his affair with a male colleague 20.
While Phillip retreats to lick his wounds and Holly Willoughby struggles to survive onscreen, there’s one former This Morning co-star who doesn’t weep over her fate into his morning coffee
In fact, with a big smile, a long spoon, and a side of ice cream and sprinkles, Eamonn Holmes looks like he’s eating the mess. He kept coming back to the subject on his live show GB News
And on Tuesday, the day after her much-mocked “Are you alright?” following her two-week hiatus from the show following Schofield’s exit, Eamonn remarked to Holly, “You think she’s got a big mouth?” She won’t be using it today. ‘
The Irishman obviously has a keen sense of what makes good television. But behind Eamonn’s joy at the demise of 61-year-old Schofield is more than just a desire to entertain his viewers.
The roots of his dislike for his old colleague stretch back decades, a churning mix of resentment at his professional and financial success and hatred of what Eamonn perceived as rude and self-important behavior.
Additionally, there seems to be a genuine concern for the young man who has become involved with Phillip.
In fact, Eamonn says he and his wife Ruth Langsford, another former This Morning host, were good friends with the youngster, particularly the motherly Ruth, who worked with him after his ill-fated romance ended and he joined Loose Women changed where she is presenter.
But his comments certainly made life difficult for his wife.
From her hotspot at Loose Women, Ruth had to master live handovers with Holly this week, sometimes just hours after her husband’s last outburst.
“People on TV are really mad at how aggressive Eamonn was towards Phillip, but he thinks that Phillip and Holly were a con man, that Phillip was a colossal con man.”
“He’s really angry,” says a source. “God knows what Ruth is thinking.”
Some of Eamonn’s claims have been challenged. He claimed the young man stayed with Phillip to “play” on Thursdays and would return to work on Friday morning in a taxi paid for by ITV.
Still, Schofield insists he only met the man about five times, only came to his flat once and didn’t have an ITV taxi account.
Friends of Eamonn, on the other hand, tell me they are not surprised by the interventions because Eamonn’s often expressed view was that he was the only real journalist on This Morning – and it was unfair that Schofield was not only above him in the hierarchy, but also paid a lot more than he did.
Eamonn is said to have made around £150,000 a year for his role as a one-day-a-week presenter, while Holly and Phil made more than £700,000 for their four days.
Some of Eamonn’s claims have been challenged. He claimed the young man stayed with Phillip to “play” on Thursdays and would return to work on Friday morning in a taxi paid for by ITV
A source tells me, “Phillip was treated on the red carpet.” He and Holly were considered stars. There is a hierarchy throughout television and they were paid far better. Eamonn resented that.
“His rider.” [the requests a star makes for their dressing room] There was a block of cheap cheese, but Phillip had Farr Vintners bring him some lovely wines.
“Eamonn couldn’t see how someone like him, a real journalist, could fall under the guy who was in the broom closet with Gordon The Gopher.”
That fear was only compounded by Eamonn’s troubled past with This Morning editor Martin Frizell. In fact, Frizell said grimly of last weekend’s relentless coverage of the scandal, “I think there is.” [sic] Some scores are settled.’
He didn’t name names, but he must have been thinking of Eamonn.
Many years ago, like Eamonn, Frizell was a well-known journalist who covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Tiananmen Square massacre.
In 2000, he took over the show’s leadership on GMTV with his wife Fiona Phillips. By this point, she had been the presenter at GMTV for three years, along with Eamonn, who had been there since 1993.
Their sofa pairing was initially harmonious. But Eamonn admitted in his autobiography, “He was the boss of me and his wife — not a scenario you’d recommend at Harvard Business School.” A few weeks after his arrival, Frizell told Eamonn that he’d downgraded him from five to four Days downgrade and include Andrew Castle.
The upheaval ended in a titanic dispute over Eamonn’s hours and pay.
Eamonn wanted to be paid according to his five-day-week contract, while management felt he should take a pay cut to accommodate the reduced hours worked.
Lawyers were brought in. Eamonn kept his money but went in search of a new job.
(A pal from back then sighs, “He was definitely right, but it’s easier to cross Eamonn than to cross a street.”)
Eamonn later told friends, ‘I can’t tell you how horrible Martin Frizell made life for me.’ He made life hell for me.’
That fear was only compounded by Eamonn’s troubled past with This Morning editor Martin Frizell (left).
A year after leaving GMTV, Eamonn began co-hosting This Morning with his wife Ruth on Fridays, while Fern Britton and Schofield made up the Monday-Thursday team.
Everything seemed fine here too. But Fern quit in 2009, reportedly tired of Phillip’s influence on the program and his higher salary (although she later denied she left for the money).
Phillip was allowed to choose her successor – his “best friend” Holly Willoughby – and in 2016 the two Eamonns were joined by former boss Frizell.
Frizell was smitten with Phillip, whom he considered the “king” of the show. For his part, Phillip called Frizell “the best captain we’ve ever had.”
Where has all this left Eamonn? Apparently outside in the cold.
A source said: “Phillip has been very open about Eamonn, as has Martin.” We always called Eamonn and Ruth “the B-Team”.
The guests were chosen to be on the show from Monday to Thursday – therein lay the prestige.
“Personally, Phillip and Eamonn never got along.” Eamonn found him snarky and passive-aggressive and said he treated the underdeveloped people on the show very badly.
Phillip was rude. He would ignore you and then be nice to you, and you should be grateful for that. It made Eamonn angry.’
A source said: “Phillip has been very open about Eamonn, as has Martin.” We always called Eamonn and Ruth “the B-Team”
Tensions reached their peak in the run-up to the 2019 general election. Frizell insisted that Eamonn present then-Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon with a bauble from This Morning.
Eamonn also insisted he would not do such a thing, saying it would violate broadcasters’ impartiality rules in the weeks leading up to an election.
“He and Frizz didn’t speak again after that,” says the lead source.
In late 2019, Schofield’s touted relationship with his young runner ended.
Some say he declared his love for “Schof” at the National Television Awards in January 2020 – others claim there was an altercation.
TV presenter Piers Morgan says the former happened, while GB News presenter Dan Wootton says he saw confrontations between the man and Phillip and Holly separately that night.
A few weeks later, Phillip came out to none other than Eamonn and Ruth on Friday’s This Morning. Eamonn then said he had only been told what had happened 20 minutes before.
On screen, Eamonn joked to Phillip that discovering he was gay cleared one up: “There’s this great imponderability in life that has always bothered me.”
“I was like how come he gets to be in a hot tub with Holly Willoughby and Steph? [Phillip’s wife] no problem and dan [Holly’s husband] no problem?’
In late 2019, Schofield’s touted relationship with his young runner ended. Some say he declared his love for “Schof” at the National Television Awards in January 2020 – others claim there was an altercation
Phillip, however, fully defended Eamonn, tweeting: “Let me just say @EamonnHolmes and @RuthieeL were absolutely amazing with me today, privately downstairs just the three of us, and upstairs in front of the whole world.”
“I couldn’t have asked for better comforting and loving hugs and support, I love them both.”
However, Eamonn now says he felt he was “used” that day.
In October 2020, Phillip released his autobiography, Life’s What You Make It, which garnered a lot of money. A sign of the lack of goodwill between the two men is that he consistently misspelled Eamonn’s name.
Within nine months, he and Ruth received a warning that Frizell wanted to reshuffle the hosting team to include popular surrogate Alison Hammond.
The then 60-year-old couple were “surprised and angry” when they learned they were losing their regular weekly gig.
Well-connected sources claimed they felt “thrown in the trash.” When they left, many colleagues got in touch and conveyed their good wishes for the future.
There was not a single word, call, text or card from Phillip and Holly. Eamonn told his friends that Holly was “blank, distant and cold” when they were colleagues – and now it’s like he never existed.
‘He says that [Phillip and Holly] were rude, cold and venomous towards him, which he still can’t understand.
“Eamonn’s view is that Holly and Phil always thought they were way above the audience and way above Eamonn and Ruth – and they were wrong on both counts.”
As Holly struggles to maintain viewers’ goodwill – and her future career on This Morning – one has to ask: does she ever think about how life could be easier if she had Eamonn by her side?