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Phillip Schofield recalled the exact moment he was sacked from This Morning after 21 years of hosting the show.
The former daytime presenter, 62, made his TV comeback this week as he fronted his own Cast Away show on Channel 5 after stepping down from the ITV show last May following an ‘unwise’ affair with a junior colleague.
However, Phillip has now claimed he did not resign from the show, and instead claims he was sacked over his paedophile brother Timothy’s conviction. Despite an ITV source dismissing the claims as ‘untrue’.
His 54-year-old brother was convicted in April 2023 of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child.
Speaking on the final episode of the three part series, Phillip explained his agent called him unexpectedly to confirm he had been ‘let go’ from This Morning due to the bad publicity surrounding his brother’s case.
Phillip Schofield has recalled the exact moment his agent rang to tell him he had been ‘sacked’ from This Morning in the final episode of his Channel 5 show Cast Away on Wednesday
The former daytime presenter, 62, has claimed he did not resign from the show, and instead was sacked over his paedophile brother Timothy’s conviction
He told the cameras: ‘My phone rang and I picked it up. “Mate are you somewhere quiet?” Which is never a good sign.
Recounting his agents words, they said: ‘Erm, I’ve got a bit of a shock. I’m afraid you’ve been let go from This Morning.
‘That’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday.’
Shocked at the unexpected news, Phil asked: ‘What? Because of what?’ as his agent replied: ‘I think it’s the publicity mate.’
Protesting, the former TV star continued: ‘That’s got nothing to do with me. That has nothing to do with me. Why would I be sacked for something that somebody else did?
‘I’ve just been fired. Because of him. Because I was becoming more of a story than the programme. It was better for the show, better for the channel.’
Phillip then claimed he agreed to say he had resigned rather than have it publicly known that he had been sacked.
He continued: ‘And I agreed to say that I’d resigned because it would be neater for everybody.
His 54-year-old brother was convicted in April 2023 of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child
Phillip explained: ‘And I agreed to say that I’d resigned because it would be neater for everybody’
He added: ‘I’ve just been fired. Because of him. Because I was becoming more of a story than the programme. It was better for the show, better for the channel’
‘I was always open and honest with everyone at work about what was happening with my brother. I was fired for the bad publicity. For someone else’s crime.
‘And the thing is, about a week later, I blew my own wheels off with everything else, because I thought the only way to even begin to put this right for everybody is to do a full mea culpa.
‘I came clean about my affair. What people don’t realise is, I wasn’t fired from this morning when I admitted lying. It was before. Because of someone I used to call brother.
‘But that is my last story, looking back.’
An ITV source has previously dismissed the claims, with an insider telling The Mirror: ‘Phillip’s new comments are simply untrue, he is lying again.’
‘We stood by him through his brother’s court case and he then stepped away when things became too much. There was a lot going on and some relationships on the programme had become untenable as was reported at the time.
‘He then admitted himself he had been lying about an affair and he resigned from ITV altogether. We didn’t sack him, he lied to us and then he resigned, there is not much else to say and we as a network just want to move on.’
MailOnline have also contacted representatives at ITV for comment.