Eamonn Holmes spoke out about the environment on This Morning and against Phillip Schofield in a shock interview (Picture: Getty/Rex)
Eamonn Holmes has hit out at Phillip Schofield in a tell-all interview involving multiple claims about life on This Morning.
Former This Morning host Schofield has left ITV after admitting to lying about an affair with a much younger man who worked as a runner on the show.
The young runner, who has not been named, was 15 when they met, with Schofield saying the ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair began after he turned 18 and was a runner on This Morning.
Fellow former This Morning host Holmes sensationally revealed on Friday that he planned to tell ‘the truth’ about the situation in a bombshell interview to air later that night.
Now, in an interview on GB News with Dan Wootton, he claimed Schofield ‘created an atmosphere where people hated him. People would avoid him in the corridor. He didn’t look at anybody, didn’t know anybody’s name.’
He labeled the former presenter a ‘narcissist,’ and said he was doing the interview on behalf of people ‘who were gagged’ from speaking about it.
‘I didn’t know anything. I heard rumours. Who were you going to go to with these rumours? Everyone was team Phillip and Holly.’
The former This Morning star hit out at ‘toxicity’ on set (Picture: GB News)
He claimed the young runner in question was ‘promoted’ without being asked when he was moved on to Loose Women from This Morning.
Holmes called for the ‘unprecedented move’ to be investigated, particularly ‘who authorised it.’
Wootton claimed the young man was ‘a non-negotiable part’ of Phil’s team, and Holmes claimed he heard from a reliable source that the runner would arrive via taxi from Schofield’s home on Friday mornings after they went out on Thursday nights.
Holmes went on to claim the young man was ‘in a bad way’ and he and Holmes’ wife Ruth Langsford kept an eye on him, but he ‘never admitted’ any sort of relationship with Schofield but he would ‘phone often’ for ‘comfort’.
‘We never intruded, we just asked if he was okay, and we were here if he needed support. He felt alone and no one was looking after him. But there was press pressure on him.’
Schofield is facing major repercussions after admitting he lied about a relationship with a young runner on This Morning (Picture: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock)
Holmes went on to read out a message purportedly from someone who used to work at ITV, saying they were forced to sign an NDA after they left with a payout.
He claimed there was an ‘overriding, more than suspicion’ on what was going on, and accused ITV of a ‘total cover-up’ as he claimed the ‘thorough investigation’ involved simply asking both men if they were in a relationship, which they denied, and then moved on.
Attacking Schofield personally, he claimed people ‘don’t rate him’ as ‘he can’t read the autocue… he shouts when he speaks, he’s rude to everyone around him.’
Addressing the ex-presenter, he claimed he was ‘absolutely right about toxicity, but my friend, the toxicity is not with me, Dan Wootton or anyone else, the toxicity is with you and your friends in management and everybody who kept you in power and in abuse of power for so long.’
He went on to say: ‘If I’m guilty of anything it’s for speaking up for all those researchers you ignored, all those producers you treated like dirt, all those people texting and phoning me saying… we feel now empowered to speak out.’
‘You let your fame and power corrupt you and that’s where we’re at today.’
He questioned why Schofield suddenly confessed to lying about the affair when asked if he believed anything else could come out, but added there was ‘an incredible duty of care’ towards the former runner, who he said ‘life is tough’ for now.
A third part to the interview will air on the programme on Tuesday night.
Holmes addressed Schofield directly while claiming he was doing the interview on behalf of everyone who had been ‘gagged’ (Picture: GB News)
Wootton himself claimed he left ITV after being told ‘he would be pulled off air if The Sun kept writing stories’ about Schofield, as he worked at the paper at the time, and chose not to renew his contract with the network.
He went on to claim the relationship was ‘known by virtually every staff member both on and off screen,’ and he asked for an investigation to be launched, before leaving ITV.
Holmes had previously blasted Schofield for taking himself and wife Ruth for ‘fools’ as the news broke about the affair.
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Former This Morning regular Dr Ranj Singh has also branded the show ‘toxic,’ and revealed that he had approached ITV bosses with his concerns, before he found himself being ‘used less and less’ on the show.
Schofield himself spoke out on Friday declaring it was ‘the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.’
Dan Wootton Tonight airs weekdays from 9pm on GB News.
Phillip Schofield statement in full
‘I am making this statement via the Daily Mail to whom I have already apologised personally for misleading, through my lawyer who I also misled, about a story which they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.
‘Contrary to speculation, whilst I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him to get into television, it was only after he started to work on the show that it became more than just a friendship. That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It is now over.
‘When I chose to come out I did so entirely for my own wellbeing. Nobody “forced” me out. Neither I nor anyone else, to my knowledge, has ever issued an injunction, super or otherwise, about my relationship with this colleague, he was never moved on or sacked by or because of me. In an effort to protect my ex-colleague I haven’t been truthful about the relationship.
‘But my recent, unrelated, departure from This Morning fuelled speculation and raised questions which have been impacting him, so for his sake it is important for me to be honest now.
‘I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife.
‘I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me.
‘I will reflect on my very bad judgment in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it. To protect his privacy, I am not naming this individual and my deepest wish is that both he and his family can now move on with their lives free from further intrusion, and that this statement will enable them to do so.
‘I ask the media now to respect their privacy. They have done nothing wrong, and I ask that their privacy should be respected.’
The shock interview aired on Monday night.
