Both of them had stints at ITV - Dan Wootton used to be a showbiz reporter on Lorraine, while Eamonn Holmes presented This Morning alongside wife Ruth Langsford – and now, amid the ongoing controversy over broadcaster Phillip Schofield, Holmes has given an interview to Wootton on their new TV home, GB News.
The chat comes after Schofield – another former This Morning host – resigned from ITV and admitted being “unfaithful” to his wife after having an “unwise, but not illegal” relationship with a younger male colleague.
In a two-part interview with Wootton, Holmes (who ditched ITV for GB News in 2021) claimed the younger male colleague would be “delivered from Phillip’s London home” to ITV’s studios in a car, after having stayed at his London home “in cars paid for by ITV”.
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“Those in authority had to know what was going on and they thought they would dodge a bullet with this,” said Holmes, adding that the affair was “known by virtually every staff member both on and off screen”.
While Holmes’ revelations to Wootton set social media buzzing, so too did an unusual snap of the pair from the interview, which was widely mocked on Twitter:
As the scandal surrounding This Morning continued online and in the press, the first edition of the programme following Schofield’s departure – on 22 May – saw the Dancing on Ice and The Cube presenter gave an on-air tribute lasting just 30 seconds.
Alison Hammond told viewers: “We can’t start today’s show without paying tribute to the man who spent the last two decades sitting on the This Morning sofa: Phillip Schofield.
Co-presenter Dermot O’Leary continued: “So, the show – everyone on and off-screen at ITV and This Morning – want to say a huge thank you to Phil for what he’s done to make the show such a success over the last 21 years."
Hammond added: “Quite simply, we all know he’s one of the best live television broadcasters this country has ever had, and we and all the team wish him all the best for the future.”
Meanwhile Holly Willoughby, who appeared alongside Schofield on This Morning for more than a decade, first thanked her colleague for “all of his knowledge, his experience and his humour”, adding “the sofa won’t feel the same without him”.
After Schofield admitted to the affair with a younger man, Willoughby issued a follow-up statement and said: “It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not.
“It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie.”
Willoughby is understood to be returning to This Morning from next Monday after a half-term break.
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