Eamonn Holmes has called for Holly Willoughby to step down from This Morning and follow her disgraced co-star Phillip Schofield ‘close out the door’, adding that he doesn’t think she will return in a bid to protect her brand.
It comes amid reports that Willoughby is determined to fight on to keep her spot on the sofa, despite the ongoing chaos at the programme caused by Schofield’s revelations that he lied about his affair with a much younger man.
In a bombshell interview with GB News last night, Holmes, a former presenter of This Morning accused ITV of covering up the relationship and branded Schofield a ‘chief narcissist’.
He also took aim at Willoughby who he argued would not be returning to the show he either.
He told Dan Wootton: ‘I don’t think you will ever see Holly Willoughby back on the couch.’
Eamonn Holmes has called for Holly Willoughby to follow her disgraced former co-presenter Phillip Schofield ‘out the door’
In a bombshell interview with GB News last night, Holmes, a former presenter of This Morning accused ITV of covering up the relationship and branded Schofield a ‘chief narcissist’
‘There are people who are financial experts who will say this is about brand protection for her company and her advertising deals.’
ITV has been contacted for comment.
Willoughby is paid £730,000 a year for her presenting gig on This Morning but has a growing business empire, estimated to be worth £10 million.
She has amassed the huge fortune not only through her television portfolio, from presenting I’m A Celeb to Dancing with The Stars, but a series of lucrative brand deals from Marks and Spencer to Diet Coke.
And in 2021, she launched her own wellness and lifestyle brand Wylde Moon, akin to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop.
When Schofield announced he was living, Willoughby wrote on Instagram that ‘the couch will seem so empty without him’.
But Holmes blasted this statement, adding: ‘She should be dancing on the couch, because that’s what she was looking for forever.
Others have called for Willoughby to go, including former culture secretary Nadine Dorries who said the presenter ‘has questions to answers’.
She has currently been off-air since Schofield’s sudden departure; however, this was due to a planned holiday for the school half term break. The presenter of 14 years is expected to make a return to the programme on June 5.
Over the years the This Morning presenter has signed a number of lucrative brand deals from Diet Coke (pictured) to M&S and Garnier
During the interview, Holmes told of how his wife Ruth Langsford is still in touch with Schofield’s ex-lover
One source told the Mirror yesterday: ‘Holly wants to stay at This Morning as long as she can and hopes to ride out the scandal. Other stars like Stephen Mulhern are being approached to fill in for Phil when she returns. Some are reluctant to go in and face angry viewers.
‘Holly is determined to stay put – the only reason she would leave now is if This Morning is axed. She has absolutely no plans to leave.’
Throughout Holmes’ interview he made a series of allegations surrounding the ongoing Schofield scandal, which has plunged ITV into a crisis in which sponsors have pulled out of multi-million-pound deals.
Holmes, a GB News presenter, said Schofield, 61, had allowed his ‘fame and power’ to ‘corrupt’ him.
He also told how his wife Ruth Langsford is still in touch with Schofield’s ex-lover, who was described as a ‘lovely fella’, and ‘life is tough’ for him.
On Schofield admitted on Friday that he had lied about his relationship with the man, plunging ITV into meltdown losing millions of pounds in sponsorship deals.
Holmes told his fellow GB News presenter Dan Wootton tonight he had decided to stand up for ‘people who hadn’t got a voice’.
Speaking of the scandal engulfing ITV, he said: ‘It’s a total cover up. Those in authority had to know.
On Schofield admitted on Friday that he had lied about his relationship with the man, plunging ITV into meltdown and losing millions of pounds of sponsorship deals in the aftermath
When approached by a GB News producer, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo refused to answer questions about Schofield
‘They had to know what was going on and they thought they would dodge the bullet which they did and they do constantly.’
Holmes claimed that Phillip and his young lover would go out and enjoy ‘playtime’ on Thursdays, with the man staying overnight at his £1 million London flat.
The following day, the pair would arrive at ITV Studios in separate cars from Schofield’s home, he added.
‘All I’m here to do is to speak for people who hadn’t got a voice… I’m speaking on behalf of them,’ he added.
Holmes said: ‘Usually on a Friday morning, because Thursday was playtime when he and Phillip would hit the town and then he obviously stayed overnight. There are records to show that he was brought in the next day separately in cars paid for by ITV.’
ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo refused to answer questions about Schofield after being pursued on the street by a GB News producer.
He was asked outside a station whether there had been a ‘cover up’ of the affair, but Mr Lygo walked away, telling the producer: ‘We really have no more to say.’
ITV has continued to insist that it carried out an investigation in 2020, after rumours of Schofield’s affair with a younger male employee began to circulate.
But last night, while ITV maintains both party’s were interviewed, sources close to his former lover said he was never quizzed on the matter.
