Author: Abigail Ampofo

The social media accounts associated with the This Morning show have maintained a low profile and refrained from posting since Phillip Schofield confessed to having an affair with a younger colleague.

Normally, these accounts provide daily updates on the program, but the This Morning TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages have been inactive since Friday.

The most recent post shared by all the accounts was a video snippet from an interview with supermodel Elle Macpherson.

However, later that day, Schofield released a statement admitting to his affair, expressing remorse.

While the official accounts have remained dormant, various moments involving Schofield and his former lover have surfaced on social media, attracting significant attention. One recent video that resurfaced showcased the two of them consuming whisky together on an episode of This Morning in 2016.

During the Christmas-themed segment, Schofield and co-host Holly Willoughby were trying out alternative advent calendars while Schofield’s lover – who worked as a runner on ITV – was in the background dressed as an elf. 

After former Emmerdale actress Natalie Anderson showed them a whisky advent calendar worth £1,000, the hosts were quick to try out a bottle themselves. 

With Schofield delighted by the ‘smooth’ drink, he turned to his festively dressed lover and asked, ‘Do you want some?!’ 

After the younger man took a sip, he joked: ‘Let’s get the elf smashed!’ 

The clip has resurfaced as ITV bosses face further questions about what they knew of Schofield’s affair with his colleague.

It has been claimed that the younger lover received a financial settlement from the broadcaster.

The Daily Mail has been told that he was given a payment following the end of the on-off relationship, which Schofield described as ‘unwise but not illegal’.

ITV has repeatedly declined to comment on the alleged pay-off or deny it. 

There were no comments from a representative of the presenter, who quit the channel on Friday after he revealed to the Daily Mail that he had lied about the affair to our sister paper, The Mail on Sunday.

But a source claims that the money was handed to the man, who, after he declared his love for Schofield at an awards ceremony in January 2020, was shunted to another of the network’s daytime programmes, Loose Women. 

He no longer works there.

ITV insiders said that at some level, bosses must have known about any payment. 

One added: ‘There have been numerous pay-offs at ITV and they have always had to be arranged and sanctioned by people of some seniority.’

The claims come as pressure has increased on the broadcaster’s chief executive, Dame Carolyn McCall, director of TV Kevin Lygo and head of daytime Emma Gormley to speak out about what they knew.

One source at the channel said: ‘This is unravelling fast and there is no evidence to suggest it will come to an end any time soon.

‘There are a lot of people out there who feel wronged by ITV and they now have the confidence to have their say.

‘The house of cards appears to be collapsing – it is anybody’s guess where this ends now.’

It comes after former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes accused ITV bosses of orchestrating a ‘total cover-up’ of Schofield’s affair with his younger lover, saying those in authority ‘had to know’ about the secret relationship.

The pair met when Schofield was in his 50s and giving a talk to a theatre school. At that time, his future lover was 15 and keen to make a career in the TV industry.

He moved down to London aged 18 and began working at This Morning, before striking up the secret relationship with the presenter.

In an interview on GB News on Monday evening, Holmes, labelled Schofield, 61, ‘chief narcissist’ who would ‘hit the town’ on Thursdays for ‘playtime’ with the young man.

He claimed Schofield’s lover would be ferried between the presenter’s central London flat and the TV studio in taxis paid for by the network. 

Holmes said: ‘I didn’t know but I’ve subsequently found out from a very, very good source, because he would arrive much earlier in the morning than I would for the programme, that he was delivered from Phillip’s London home. 

‘Usually on a Friday morning, because Thursday was playtime when he and Phillip would hit the town and then he obviously stayed overnight. There are records to show that he was brought in the next day separately in cars paid for by ITV.’

Asked whether the management would had to have known, Holmes replied: ‘Unless Phillip paid the bills separately, but it would still have to go through the accounts office that they would have seen that and known that.’

Holmes, 63, also claims he approached senior management who worked for Ms McCall to tell them about Schofield’s relationship with the young production assistant.

He said: ‘I had gone to the senior bosses at ITV, people who worked for Carolyn McCall, the chief executive in November 2019, with the story of Phillip having this inappropriate relationship with the young man, and had urged them to investigate because why, at the very least, would you not investigate?

‘I wasn’t saying that Phillip was guilty of anything. I was saying you should launch an investigation.’

Sources close to Schofield hit back at Holmes, saying: ‘If Eamonn Holmes wants to be that cruel to someone in Phillip’s position then that I think says more about Eamonn than Phillip.’

ITV is still refusing to give the Daily Mail any further detail of an investigation it insists took place. Sources close to the younger man say it did not ask him about the affair as part of any probe. 

On Saturday, ITV released a statement which said ‘both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU’.

ITV will not say whether the investigation was independent and external or who conducted it and when.

The scandal is threatening to topple This Morning, the daytime programme which was launched in 1988 and hosted by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.

One source on the show said yesterday: ‘There are already conversations taking place between staff about how they are worried that things are going to have to change and where that leaves their jobs. 

‘It is a deeply worrying time, but nobody is under the illusion that the show can stay the same. It has to be rebranded because so much trust has gone.’ 

In the second part of the interview, which was broadcast last night, Holmes agreed with MailOnline columnist Dan Wootton that if anyone questioned Ms McCall’s ‘woke narrative… they are out’. 

ITV bosses are set to be questioned by MPs about the broadcaster’s handling of Schofield’s affair when they face the Commons culture committee next Tuesday.

Despite the ongoing scandal, Holly Willoughby will return to This Morning on Monday following an extended half-term break which was planned before the scandal broke. 

A source told MailOnline Ms Willoughby will front the show on Monday as planned. She will be joined by Alison Hammond, according one report.