Eamonn Holmes blasts ITV bosses for letting Holly and Phil appear drunk on air
Eamonn Holmes has lashed out at ITV bosses for double standards, accusing them of pandering to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
The veteran presenter, 63, launched another scathing attack on his former This Morning co-stars on GB News on Tuesday night, in the wake of Phillip’s affair scandal.
Veteran TV presenter Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to having an ‘ill-advised, but not illegal’ affair with a young male colleague on This Morning.
In the bombshell interview, Eamonn scolded ITV saying ‘whatever Holly and Phil want, they get’.
The TV presenter questioned why the duo were allowed to promote booze when they appeared drunk on-air after the National Television Awards in 2016, when he was banned for promoting chocolate as being ‘toxic’.
Speaking out: Eamonn Holmes has lashed out at ITV bosses for double standards, accusing them of pandering to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby
Controversy: The TV presenter wondered why the duo were allowed to advocate alcohol when they appeared drunk on air after the National Television Awards (pictured in 2016)
He told Dan Wootton, “First of all the National Television Awards, there’s an event you have to understand that This Morning, under the guise of Phillip and Holly, is a very fake existing FAF, I won’t tell you what those initials stand for to stand.
“The first word is false. And the second word is like, you can let it be the third word, and then they can show up the next day to advocate the use of liquor,” he said.
And sit on a couch, “I’m so drunk, I haven’t been to bed or haven’t been to bed. I’m drunk or whatever, whatever”.
And yet, ITV this is in a time, the legacy of Ant McPartlin, dear chap, dear chap, who was involved in a car accident that injured people and he was under the influence of drink, and yet they can promote that. ‘
In 2018, 47-year-old Ant was twice over the legal drink-driving limit when he took a breathalyzer test after the accident.
He was fined £86,000 and banned from driving for 20 months.
Eamonn continued, “But they come in the next day with their drunken act. So it’s either an act, in which case it’s false, or they’re drunk, in which case it’s not allowed.’
The host further questioned why Holly and Phil were allowed to host the show while apparently intoxicated, but bosses ended his advertising deal with a chocolate brand.
The GB News presenter admitted he is bitter about 42-year-old Phillip and Holly signing lucrative advertising contracts because he felt his opportunities were being squandered.
Eamonn said, “Ruth and I are not allowed to advertise chocolate in an ad because it is a toxic product. It would be toxic to advertise chocolate, it’s toxic and you shouldn’t do that.
The veteran presenter, 63, launched another scathing attack on his former This Morning co-stars on GB News on Tuesday night, in the wake of Phillip’s affair scandal
Frustrated: Eamonn said that while it was “one line for Holly and Phil,” it was a whole different story for himself and wife Ruth Langsford when it came to advertising opportunities
Lucrative: Phillip signed a £1 million contract to become the face of We Buy Any Car in 2017 and appeared in countless adverts
ITV’s golden girl: Holly, meanwhile, has a string of lucrative brand deals from Marks and Spencer (pictured) to Diet Coke
Scandal: Schofield with his former lover on the couch of This Morning
“The editor of This Morning has cultivated a huge area where everything to spoil Phillip and Holly is whatever Phillip and Holly want them to get.
“Holly and Phillip, he can sell cars, she can sell whatever she wants, but she’s worried she can’t sell anything right now because her image might be damaged by being associated with Phillip.
“But these are rules of one and rules of the other. Does that make me bitter? Maybe. Maybe it makes me bitter.’
Philip signed a reported £1 million contract to become the face of We Buy Any Car in 2017, appeared in countless advertisements.
But he was dropped last year following widespread claims that he and Holly had jumped the 14-hour queue to see the Queen laid out.
Holly, meanwhile, has a string of lucrative brand deals from Marks and Spencer to Diet Coke.
MailOnline has contacted representatives for ITV and Holly for comment.
Eamonn – a broadcasting institution of more than five decades – has known Phillip for most of his professional life.
They began working together on This Morning in 2006 when Eamonn joined the program four years after his rival.
November 2021, Eamonn and Ruth were controversially suspended from This Morning after 15 years and replaced on the Friday show by Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond.
Strike back: For the first time since leaving the show, Schofield spoke out against those ‘with a grudge against me’
Former colleagues: Ruth, Phil, Eamonn and Holly in 2020 when they co-presented This Morning
Eamonn was particularly saddened by being fired by ITV, claiming he was never given a proper reason.
Phil’s explosive revelation on Friday night that he was having an affair with a much younger man has now left ITV bosses facing a “desperate effort” to salvage the beleaguered show in the coming weeks.
Holly is fighting to keep her presenting gig on This Morning amid a number of calls to go, including former culture secretary Nadine Dorries who claimed the beloved presenter has ‘questions to answer’.
She is currently off the air since Schofield’s sudden departure, but this was due to a planned vacation for the school holidays.
The presenter of 14-years is expected to make her return to the program on June 5.
Phillip took to Instagram this week to defend himself and the show he’s hosted for more than 20 years, posting on Instagram, “Now that I’m no longer working on This Morning, I’m free to say this.
“I hope you’ve noticed that it’s the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.
“This Morning is the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there, there was no toxicity.’