Dan Walker has addressed the This Morning drama (Picture: Rex)
Dan Walker has admitted he hopes Holly Willoughby ‘learns’ from the last few weeks as the Phillip Schofield scandal unravelled.
Holly has returned to This Morning after taking an early-half term break when Schofield, 61, quit the ITV programme, following rumours that he and Holly were ‘barely speaking’ behind the scenes and that their relationship had cooled, though, at the time, he insisted they were still ‘best friends’.
He later sensationally resigned from all his ITV projects including hosting the British Soap Awards, after revealing he had an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a young male show runner on This Morning while still with his wife Stephanie Lowe, which he said he had lied about.
After Schofield’s bombshell confession, Holly took to her Instagram stories to say: ‘It’s taken time to process yesterday’s news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not.
‘It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie. Holly.’
Allegations have since been swirling around the ‘toxic’ culture of This Morning, but former BBC News star Dan is still hoping it won’t disappear.
He said: ‘I believe it’s filled with brilliant, creative, clever people who are making programmes with the right integrity.’
‘This Morning is part of the fabric of British TV so I hope it doesn’t disappear.’
Holly Willoughby said she was ‘shaken, troubled, let down’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Schofield quit ITV in full after revealing his ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The 46-year-old continued to The Daily Mail: ‘The last few weeks must have been awful for Holly so I hope she’s OK and that she learns from it and is a better person because of it.
‘It will be interesting to see where they both are in a year’s time.’
This comes after Holly spoke about being ‘shaken, troubled, [and] let down,’ after Schofield’s confession, having given ‘love and support’ to her former co-star, only to find out he ‘was not telling the truth’.
Elsewhere, Dan addressed his move to Channel 5, after leaving BBC Breakfast after six years.
‘When I left the BBC, 20 per cent of me wondered if I’d made the right decision.
‘Now, looking back over the past 12 months, I’m pretty confident I did,’ he said.
Dan Walker is confident leaving the BBC was the ‘right decision’ (Picture: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)
Marking her return to This Morning after Schofield’s exit, Holly opened the show speaking directly to the camera, her eyes welling up as she grabbed Josie Gibson’s hand and thanked her for being there with her.
‘Hi there, good morning. Josie, thank you for being here. Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you ok? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil.’
She continued: ‘I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have – shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions.
‘You me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process.’
Holly has returned to This Morning (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Holly Willoughby’s statement in full as she returns to This Morning after Phillip Schofield exit
‘Hi there, good morning. Josie, thank you for being here. Right, deep breath. Firstly, are you ok? I hope so. It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil.
‘I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have – shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on and full of questions.
‘You me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process, and it’s equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health.
‘I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal, for the health and wellbeing of everyone.
‘I hope that we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.
‘From my heart, can I just say thank you for all of your kind messages and thank you for being here this morning. Myself, Josie, Dermot, Alison, Craig and every single person that works on this show will continue to work hard every single day to bring you this show that we love.’
The TV host said that it’s ‘equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health’, after Schofield said in an interview with the BBC that he understood how the late Caroline Flack felt before she took her own life.
As Holly continued speaking, her eyes welled up with tears as she told viewers: ‘I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal, for the health and wellbeing of everyone.
‘I hope that we start this new chapter and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other.’
Since her statement, she has not addressed the scandal, despite the likes of former This Morning guest Dr Ranj Singh speaking out about the ‘toxic’ culture and GB News presenter Eamonn Holmes branding her a ‘big mouth’.
Earlier this week, This Morning turned awkward when Holly refused to acknowledge the change in set as Gino D’Acampo returned.
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‘I was in Italy for a month. I came back two days ago … any news? Anything from the last month that I should know?’ he probed.
Dermot O’Leary looked awkward as Holly chirped extremely happily, ‘No!’
As Gino pressed again, ‘Anything I should know?’ and Holly insisted there was ‘no news,’ Dermot had a The Office moment as he looked directly into the camera while awkwardly gnawing on a pen.
And in case things weren’t awkward enough, Gino picked up on this and asked loudly: ‘Why is Dermot not talking anymore?’
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
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‘It will be interesting to see where they both are in a year’s time.’