Alison and Dermot step in as Phil quits show
ALISON Hammond and Dermot O’Leary will present This Morning today while Holly Willoughby takes an early holiday after Phillip Schofield dramatically quit the show.
Schofield, 61, was dealt an ultimatum after Ms Willoughby, 42, told ITV bosses that she no longer wanted to work with him after their friendship soured.
He was told on Friday that his contract – which is due to end this summer – will not be renewed. His final show was on Thursday.
He fled 300 miles to Cornwall to visit his mother, where he was pic
‘Basically an ultimatum’
tured looked tired as he seemed to conduct tense phone conversations while sitting in a car for two hours.
Ms Hammond and O’Leary, who present the ITV show on Fridays, will step in on today’s show.
Ms Willoughby will return on June 5, after the half-term break, and will co-host with members of the This Morning team.
ITV has yet to confirm Schofield’s permanent replacement.
Schofield and Ms Willoughby, who also present Saturday night show Dancing On Ice together, have cohosted the show since 2009.
But reports of tension between the two came to a head after he failed to tell her about his brother Timothy’s trial for child sex offences.
‘It was basically an ultimatum, Holly won the war,’ a source told the Mail. ‘We say what Holly wants,
Holly gets and never was a truer word spoken.’ Timothy Schofield was jailed for 12 years on Friday.
Phillip Schofield, who will present next month’s British Soap Awards on ITV, made no mention of his former colleague and friend in his statement. He said: ‘I understand that ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love.
‘So I have agreed to step down from This Morning with immediate effect, in the hope that the show can move forward to a bright future. I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me – especially This Morning’s amazing viewers.’
Ms Willoughby thanked him for sharing ‘all of his knowledge, his experience and his humour’ with her.
Ms Willoughby reportedly has the full support of This Morning editor Martin Frizell, who is keen to pair her with Ms Hammond.