Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Holly and I have never had and we’re both paid the sam
Schofield joins equal wage debate
When Phillip Schofield was asked by ITV bosses to host the returning Dancing on Ice, he said he would do it only if Holly Willoughby was on board.
Luckily, Holly said yes. Perhaps because, not only are the pair This Morning co-hosts, but they are also the best of pals. Phillip, 55, gushes: “Holly is an absolute dream – it’s like presenting with my best friend or sister.
“We have never had a row in all of the years we’ve been working together on anything we’ve done.
“We’ve never even got tetchy. It just doesn’t happen, and that’s a lovely relationship to have, and quite rare.”
Original host Holly, 36, reclaims her Dancing On Ice presenting spot from Christine Bleakley, who Phillip says is happy to pass on the baton. It’s been four years since the show came off-air. Since then,
Holly’s salary has risen to match Phillip’s, amid uproar over the gender pay gap among TV stars. Phillip confirms that they are now paid exactly the same for both This Morning and Dancing On Ice. So, is he happy with that? “Absolutely,” he says. “You have to remember, when Holly started on This Morning I’d been doing it for years and was the one who had to pull it all through. Once Holly was an equal presenter, then of course. And across the board, that’s the way it should be.”
Dancing On Ice launches on January 7 and will be welcomed by many viewers mourning the loss of Strictly Come Dancing. This time around on the ITV show, in a nod to Strictly, ice dancing legends Jayne Torvill, 60, and Christopher Dean, 59, will sit on the judging panel – alongside Jason Gardiner, 46, and new judge Ashley Banjo, 29 – rather than acting as mentors to the contestants And the routines will be choreographed by professional skaters for the first time.
Phillip says: “You’re bound to have the comparison between the shows, but they are very different skills.
“There are people who’ve done well on Strictly who wouldn’t come anywhere near this. If you fall over on this, it hurts."
Like Strictly, the show has spawned
love affairs and even a marriage, between pro-skater Sylvain Longchambon and Coronation Street actor Samia Ghadie.
And Phillip is happy for love to blossom again this year, saying: “We’re always up for a bit of romance on ice.”
The 12 contestants have been in training since September, and Phillip has high expectations. He said: “I think it’ll be edgier. We’ve got skating pros who can ride motorbikes on ice and one of them spits fire. It’ll be a greater spectacle than we have ever seen.”
Phillip expects judge Jason’s remarks
to be as cutting as ever. He famously once told Olympian Sharron Davies that her routine was akin to “faecal matter”.
Philip said: “The more he does it, the more it makes me laugh. Occasionally he oversteps the mark, but we’re all grown-ups and they can all take it.”
He thinks that having Jayne and Chris as joint head judges will be a big boost.
“It’s the best panel we could have. Jayne has a sense of humour and an opinion, so it’ll be interesting to see.
“Chris [had been] choreographing all the skates, so his hands were on all of the performances for each show. Now, it’s the professionals’ work that he’ll be judging, so it takes him away from it.
“He’s looking forward to it, being able to sit back and have an objective view.”
This time around – gasp – there are no plans for the former Olympic champions to take to the ice. “Even Torvill and Dean get a little older,” Phillip reasons.
So does the return of Dancing on Ice make him the busiest man in showbiz?
He very much hopes not. “I’m very conscious that you don’t want to do too much. I don’t want people turning on the telly and going, ‘Dear God, not him again’. So hopefully the balance is right.”