This Morning boss Martin Frizell breaks silence on Phillip Schofield affair | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV
This Morning editor Martin Frizell has spoken out for the first time about Phillip Schofield’s departure from the ITV show.
The show boss was approached by a GB News reporter on Thursday who questioned him about Phillip’s affair with a younger male colleague.
It comes after the former This Morning host admitted to lying about the affair with the unnamed colleague.
When approached by GB News host Ben, Martin told him ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn “made a good statement” about it.
Ben asked: “What planet is it feasible that you guys never knew about Schofield’s lover when he was on stage with at the NTAs.”
“I can’t hear you, Ben,” Martin replied as the reporter repeated his question.
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“There is a good statement that came out from Carolyn,” the This Morning boss explained. “So I will stick with that.”
Ben probed further: “I think you owe it to your viewers and the shareholders for some proper answers.
“Why was a production assistant on stage with you and Philip and Holly.”
“She made a good statement and the case will go through all these things and you’ll find out when it comes out, everything will be made public.”
As the GB News host tried to push for more answers, Martin echoed: “It was a really good statement.”
ITV has always vehemently denied they knew anything about Phillip’s affair.
A spokesperson told Express.co.uk at the time: “Further to our statement last night, ITV can confirm that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in early 2020 ITV investigated.
“Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship.”
On Wednesday, it was confirmed ITV will carry out an external review into why the 61-year-old left This Morning.
A letter sent from ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has been sent to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chairman Dame Caroline Dinenage, and Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes.
The letter, obtained by the Press Association, referred to wider stories about This Morning, including allegations of a “toxic culture” by Dr Ranj Singh, who used to regularly appear on the show as an expert.
When referring to the affair, the letter read: “You will have seen the significant media coverage concerning Phillip Schofield. As you would expect we take the matter extremely seriously and have reviewed our own records over the weekend.
“These show that when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate in late 2019/early 2020 ITV investigated.
“Given the ongoing rumours, we continued to ask questions of both parties, who both continued to deny the rumours, including as recently as this month.
“Both parties were questioned then and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours, as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on the This Morning and wider Daytime team and were not provided with and did not find any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour.
“Given the ongoing rumours, we continued to ask questions of both parties, who both continued to deny the rumours, including as recently as this month.
The letter went on to state that the former employee Phillip admitted to having an affair with has been offered support, it continued: “The ITV employee was aged 19 when he first did work experience at This Morning in 2015 and 20 years old when he applied and succeeded in securing a job as a runner on the show.
“He subsequently applied for and was successful in securing a promotion to Loose Women in 2019. He left ITV in 2021.
“As you would imagine given the social media scrutiny of him, we have offered him our support throughout this period and indeed are still doing so.”
“The employee has made it clear that he does not wish to be named or identified in connection with this matter. We would be grateful if you would be mindful of this.”
According to the letter, ITV has instructed Jane Mulcahy KC, of Blackstone Chambers, to “carry out an external review to establish the facts.”
Dan Wootton Tonight airs weekdays from 9pm on GB News.
