Phillip Schofield is on a “hell-bent mission” fuelled by “self pity” to “take anybody down with him” following his return to TV, it has been claimed.
The 62-year-old presenter is facing a fresh scandal as new reports claim he sent former friend and co-host Holly Willoughby a scathing text after his ITV career ended, telling her “you brought me down”.
According to The Mirror, Schofield sent a WhatsApp message just one day before the news of his This Morning departure was confirmed to the public.
After hitting out at ITV and making veiled digs at Willoughby and the broadcaster bosses during his appearance on Channel 5 show Cast Away, showbiz reporter Sarah-Louise Robertson claimed Schofield is “absolutely hell-bent” on “blaming anybody but himself” for what happened to him.
Robertson told GB News: “This is a man who is absolutely fueled by self-pity. He seems to be hell-bent on this mission of settling scores, and woe betide anybody who gets in Schofield’s way.
“We’ve seen the language that he’s used to insult Holly Willoughby – this was the person who was once he once called his TV sister. They were joined at the hip at one point, and he’s really left no stone unturned in the way that he’s calling her out, and other former colleagues and friends of ITV.”
Reacting to his claims on his Channel 5 show Cast Away, Robertson branded the show a “self pity monologue”, criticising the former TV star for not using his big return in a better way.
Robertson told host Patrick Christys: “He just seems hell-bent on this mission of taking down anybody who, in his self-pitying monologue in his head, seems to be the people he’s blaming for losing his his television career on ITV.
“He’s blaming everybody but himself for what happened, for his fall from grace into disgrace.”
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Offering his verdict on Schofield’s return to TV, Patrick claimed that he has “missed an opportunity” to “redeem himself” with his comeback, suggesting the former presenter had “two options”.
Patrick explained: “He had two options, which was either just to crawl away under a rock and never be seen again, or come back and say sorry, I’ve done wrong here.
“And he’s done neither of those things. He’s just come out and said it was your fault, your fault, your fault. Maybe he needs to buy a mirror?”
In agreement with Patrick, Robertson added: “You’ve hit the nail on the head. I think at the time people thought that’s it, he’s gone, we’ll never see him again. That’s the end of that. But no, he’s come back all guns blazing, and he’s showing no signs whatsoever of of contrition.”
Noting the “huge privilege” Schofield was given in having a series on Channel 5, Robertson claimed that unlike other “disgraced presenters”, he was “given a platform to redeem himself”.
Robertson explained: “The enormous privilege that’s been afforded to him – he’s had a three part series dedicated solely to himself when other people have fallen from grace.
“The likes of Matt Hancock, he had to go back on I’m A Celebrity and redeem himself and do all those trials and make a fool of himself. Phillip did none of that. He would obviously refuse to go and I’m A Celebrity because of the channel that it’s showing on, but he’s had a huge platform with which to redeem himself to the public.”
She concluded: “You’d think he would use that as a chance to say actually I do apologise here. I should have done things better, I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. He didn’t do any of that.
“He just used this programme with which to absolutely slate Holly and his former colleagues and obviously the channel itself, ITV, and he just went all guns blazing. And it hasn’t gone down well with critics.”
