Phillip Schofield says the “utter betrayal” by his television colleagues has made him never want to be a daytime presenter again as he returned to the limelight.
The 62-year-old former This Morning presenter will be seen on screen in Channel 5’s Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, his first appearance on a TV series since he left ITV in May 2023 after he admitted to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague.
When he resigned more than a year ago, he denied that he had been “forced out” of the ITV daytime programme, and said he was “so very, very sorry” for lying to the channel, his colleagues, wife and friends.
However, on the fourth day on the small island of Nosy Ankarea, off the coast of Madagascar, Schofield claims he was “chucked under a bus”, and added that he could do the same to others, but he is “not that sort of person”.
Phillip Schofield returned to UK screens in Cast Away: Episode 2 (Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited/Paramount)
On the second episode, he also says he had expected to “die on live television at 93”, but now he does not think he wants to “do it any more”, as he has been “hurt so badly” by being a presenter, and “some of the people on that sort of telly”.
Schofield says that when he started at the BBC as a booking clerk at 19, he first was able to go to Television Centre, where ITV’s This Morning was later filmed, and he “loved being there”.
He added: “When what happened to me happened to me, it screwed up my favourite building in the world, and it pretty well blew away all those happy memories, and suddenly the place became hostile to me, and that was heartbreaking.
“And the people who did it to me know, they know how important that building was to me.
“They know that when you throw someone under a bus, you’ve got to have a really bloody good reason to do it. Brand, ambition is not good enough. It’s not a good enough reason to throw someone under a bus.”
He added that “people can be so fake with you when it’s all going well, and suddenly utter, utter betrayal”.
“When the tidal wave washed through and it washed everybody away,” he added.
“The ones that are still standing. They’re the ones that matter. And I thought: ‘How many friends do you need? I don’t need 200 fake friends’. I’ve got, what? Ten, 15 friends that I would die for, they would die for me.”
He also claims the relationship would not have mattered if he was not gay, and suggested an affair with a woman would have meant a “pat on the back”.
Schofield said: “I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing, difference is heterosexual, it’s not an unusual thing in the gay world, for there to be a difference in age groups.”
On day six, he takes on the challenge of climbing the island’s mountain, and reflects on life outside of TV work.
A video is also shown from before taking on the challenge, where says: “You’ve got to look elsewhere, and you’ve got to see, where does that path go? Because I can’t go down that one any more.”
On reaching the summit, he cited the poem “Welcome To Holland” – where someone going on holiday to Italy goes somewhere they do not expect – by Emily Perl Kingsley that his therapist sent to him.
While looking out at the view, Schofield says: “Holland is a lovely place, with lovely people… and it’s not quite where you thought you were going to go, but it’s rewarding and it gives moments like this.”
ITV has been contacted for comment.
Phillip Schofield: Cast Away airs at 9pm on Monday on Channel 5, and will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday at the same time.