ITV has confirmed the presenters of This Morning on Monday, the first show since Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger male colleague.
On Friday, the presenter, 61, quit ITV with immediate effect after admitting to cheating on wife Stephanie with the man, while admitting to cheating on his ITV staff and colleagues about his affair.
This Morning’s future has been uncertain over the weekend, with calls for it to be scrapped entirely.
However, an ITV spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘This Morning is not being rated and there are no plans to ax the show. This Morning returns on Monday.’
A spokesperson has now confirmed that Alison Hammond, 48, and Dermot O’Leary, 50, who usually present on Fridays, will host tomorrow’s show.
Update: ITV have confirmed the presenters of Monday’s This Morning, which will be the first show since Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger male colleague came to the fore
Familiar faces: A spokesperson has now confirmed that Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary, who usually host on Fridays, will host tomorrow’s show
Alison and Dermot previously took over hosting duties after Phil resigned from This Morning last week.
Craig Doyle also joined Alison mid-week, with the pair interviewing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak together.
Alison and Dermot feel let down by Phillip after his affair with a considerably younger male colleague was confirmed just days after their touching tribute to the presenter.
On Friday, the 61-year-old quit ITV and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after revealing he was having an affair with a young colleague while still married to Stephanie Lowe – the mother of his two children.
The pair had paid tribute to ‘top broadcaster’ Phillip at the opening of their usual week-end show, just 24 hours after what would be his last appearance on This Morning after 21 years on camera.
The pair are now said to be upset at being pulled into the situation after the details of his affair with the colleague, who was believed to be a runner with ambitions to become a TV presenter, finally came to light.
A source told MailOnline: ‘It is clear that many people both on and off camera have been upset following Phillip’s extraordinary statement on Friday. It’s fair to say they’re disappointed.’
It has been reported that This Morning presenters threatened to quit after news of the affair broke out this week.
It is now said that This Morning could cope as senior bosses such as CEO Carolyn McCall’s job could be in jeopardy as the program comes under pressure to reveal what they knew about Phil’s affair with the young runner.
Some presenters have even threatened to quit amid the toxic fallout – with one well-known name already issuing a statement of resignation in the wake of Phil’s confession.
“The entire senior team of This Morning is in full damage control mode and worried about the presenters potentially walking out.
“Phillip no doubt thinks he has tried to do the right thing, but the overwhelming feeling on set is that procedures need to be put in place to ensure that the same mistakes never happen again.
“Some presenters feel the saga has left too much toxicity around the show, it can’t survive and they’re thinking about their future”
Phillip received a mere 30 second tribute at the start of This Morning on Friday May 19 when Alison and Dermot stepped in after he was suspended after 21 years.
The pair started the show by briefly commenting on his departure, but there was no editing, just a single shot of the veteran host on screen and about half a minute of warm words.
Opening the broadcast, Alison said, “We can’t start today’s show without paying tribute to the man who has sat on the This Morning bench for the past two decades.” Phillip Schofield.’
Dermot added: ‘So as a show everyone on and off the screen at ITV and This Morning on say a huge thank you to Phil for what he’s done to make the show such a success over the last 21 years.’
Alison continued, “Simply put, we all know he’s one of the best live television broadcasters this country has ever had, and we and the whole team wish him all the best for the future.”
It is currently unclear who will host tomorrow’s show and whether Alison and Dermot will fill in again.
A week later, Phillip announced that he had left ITV altogether, relinquishing his last existing association with the channel, the British Soap Awards.
The broadcaster, who was also ousted by his longtime agents YMU, admitted he had an affair with a younger male This Morning colleague.
When the colleague was 15, the schoolboy asked him for a job and Phillip later arranged an interview for him. It led to a job as an ITV production assistant when he turned 18. Some time after that, their affair began.
The news of Alison and Dermot’s upset comes just hours after MP Nadine Dorries put pressure on Phillips co-host Holly Willoughby and called for an investigation into complaints made to ITV about Phillip on This Morning.
The former culture secretary also accused him of bullying and abuse of “authority, power and trust” after he confessed to having an affair with the younger colleague and covered it up with lies.
The presenter quit ITV after admitting to the Mail that he had lied about an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a much younger man. He also apologized to his wife of nearly 30 years Stephanie, who stood by him after coming out as gay in 2020.
His co-host of 13 years Holly, who Ms Dorries now claims to ‘answer questions’, said it was ‘hurt’ to discover she had been lied to when she confronted him about rumors of the affair.
Sources close to the presenter said it had been a “traumatic” revelation for the This Morning presenter and a “time of real sadness” as Schofield was “her very good friend” but that she has “absolutely no plans to to leave the show’.
ITV confirmed they had investigated rumors about the relationship, which first started circulating in 2020, but that Phillip and the young man had “repeatedly denied” the affair.
Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV, denied today that any mistakes were made in the network’s investigation. He simply replied ‘No’ when asked if any mistakes had been made when confronted by Sky News who bosses knew about at ITV.
With Phillip’s 38-year career in shambles, Ms Dorries is the latest to speak out against the TV presenter who, according to Dan Wootton, has faced allegations of ‘toxic’ behavior from eight ITV stars.
Warm words: After his last show on Thursday, May 18, Alison and Dermot paid just a 30-second tribute to Phil (Phil seen with his former co-host Holly Willoughby on This Morning this month)
Apologies: Phillip’s affair took place during his nearly 30-year marriage to his wife Stephanie, 59, and Phillip said he was ‘so sorry’ for being unfaithful to him
Calling for an inquiry into the complaints to ITV, she told BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg today: “The fact that Phillip Schofield has made a rather cringeworthy apology to the Daily Mail in the form of an email seems to understand that it’s now. and everything continues. That’s not the case I’m afraid.
“What it actually does raises more questions about what happened. We know that complaints have been made to ITV over a long period of time. What happened to those complaints? I think the programme’s editor Martin Frizell himself has some questions to answer.
“And I’m afraid Holly Willoughby does too. How did that young boy, so young, get a job at ITV. What processes were involved? What was the security for someone so young at that age? Which contact was made first? Who contacted whom?’
When asked if presenters like Schofield have too much power, Ms Dorries, who introduced herself recently, added: ‘There are men, especially men, who hold positions of authority or trust and power, who think they are above the law. and above those standards the rest of us are held and held to.
“I think there’s definitely an element of what’s taking place.”
Describing her own experience sitting on the This Morning couch, she said, “[It’s] never easy, as you know Laura, being interviewed as a politician by a presenter or a journalist, it’s never an easy experience.
“But I just found him pretty bully in his attitude towards the co-presenter who replaced Holly Willoughby. That made me feel more uncomfortable than answering the questions. When the camera was on me and I was talking, he started jabbing his hands aggressively into the scripts, the pages rattled. The co-presenter looked terrified.’
Phillip admitted to the affair Friday, which he said was “ill-advised but not illegal,” in a lengthy statement, also apologizing to his wife and family.
The “ill-advised” relationship took place during his nearly 30-year marriage to wife Stephanie, 59, and Phillip said he was “so sorry” about being unfaithful.
Stephanie, who shares two children Ruby, 27, and Molly, 29, with Phillip, issued a statement when her husband came out as gay in a touching This Morning segment in 2020.
In a statement, the former ITV presenter said: “I am making this statement through the Daily Mail, to whom I have already personally apologized for being misled, through my lawyer who I have also misled, about a story [sic] that they wanted to write about me a few days ago.
“The first thing I want to say is, I am deeply sorry that I lied to them and to many others about a relationship I had with someone who worked on This Morning.
Family: Stephanie shares two daughters, Ruby, 27, and Molly, 29, with Phillip, and Stephanie pays tribute to Phil when he came out as gay in 2020