PHILLIP Schofield accidentally set fire to his camp after issuing an emergency call to producers.
The final episode of the disgraced star’s Cast Away series concluded on Wednesday as he prepared to reenter society.
However, as Schofe approached his final days on the island he was left scared when he suspected a dangerous animal was surrounding his camp in the guise of the night.
Phil, 62, then picked up his emergency radio to speak to his Channel 5 crew on a neighbouring island.
He could be heard telling the camera: “I think the time has come to use my emergency walkie.
“I thought I heard a sort of cat-like noise – the sound of a cat fighting but bigger.”
Schofe was then advised to extend his fire by adding bigger and longer logs and to keep his cutting tool and radio with him at all times.
Waking up the next morning, he said: “As I was sleeping disaster struck. My star fire swept out of control and set my camp ablaze.
He added: “That’s genuinely the most frightened I’ve been.”
Meanwhile Phillip also told of the exact moment his agent rang him to say he had been ‘axed’ from This Morning.
He said: “That’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday. What? Because of what?
“I think it’s the publicity though. That’s got nothing to do with me. That has nothing to do with me. Why would I be sacked for something that somebody else did?
“I’ve just been fired. Because of him. Because I was becoming more of a story than the programme. It was better for the show, better for the channel.
“And I agreed to say that I’d resigned because… It would be neater for everybody. I was always open and honest with everyone at work about what was happening with my brother.
I was fired for the bad publicity. For someone else’s crime.”
By Rod McPhee
OVER three nights – and three hour-long episodes – Phillip Schofield has been bearing his soul in new Channel 5 show Cast Away.
And it’s basically a chance for the former This Morning host to explain the circumstances that saw him leave the show last year.
To put it mildly, he left under something of a cloud, admitting he’d had a fling with a much younger runner on the programme. But in the C5 show he presents his own versions of events – one which is at odds with the narrative that emerged at the time.
He was portrayed as a man who’d had an “unwise” affair, who’d resigned as a result and had let many of his colleagues down.
But in Cast Away Philip insists he was fired by ITV and not for the affair, but because of the bad publicity that surrounded the crimes of his paedophile brother. He summed it up best when he claimed he’d been “pushed under a bus.”
After watching Cast Away what you’re left with is something rather confusing, however.
Did Philip think he’d done something wrong by having the fling with the runner, or not? For example, he said he wouldn’t have been slammed for it quite so much if it were a heterosexual fling.
He said he: “would have received a pat on the back for having an affair with a woman.” This infers that the only thing wrong with it was that it was a same sex fling. So why does he also say: “I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake.”
The answer, I suspect, is that the whole affair was a murky business. There were so many blurred lines around appropriateness, professionalism and honesty.
The only firm conclusion you can draw from the show is that Phillip himself isn’t ENTIRELY sure to what extent He was guilty of wrongdoing.
Amid the confusion, what will the viewing public think? I suspect that this will leave those who disliked Phillip to feel even more suspicious of him.
Those who backed him, will feel reassured too. But those who still aren’t sure what to think will be none-the-wiser – and I’m not sure if that’s what Phillip would have wanted.
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AMANDA Abbington has revealed the shocking sexual gesture Giovanni Pernice made to her in the Strictly rehearsal room.
In her first interview since the findings of a BBC investigation into Giovanni’s conduct on the programme was released, Amanda shared new details of her experience in the training room.
She told Newsnight’s Victoria Derbyshire: “It was an ongoing litany of being verbally abused, sexual innuendo, sexual gestures. There was a 35 minute rant at me with him throwing his hands in the air and calling me names and how he couldn’t cope with it anymore.
She continued: “When I got a dance step right he would outline his erection in his trousers and say the dance move made that happen, because I got it right.
“They weren’t isolated one-off incidents.”
The BBC upheld six of the 17 complaints she made against the Italian dancer who later quit the show.
It found instances of Giovanni using swear words and “belittling” language and giving negative feedback.
And the report also found there there were two moments of “inappropriate behaviour of sexual banter in the workplace”.
These incidents were made and received consensually as jokes, humour and compliments of Amanda dancing, the report found.
Reflecting on the impact her Strictly experience and its aftermath have had on her life, Amanda said: “It’s been one of the worst years of my life.
“I’ve been through a lot. It has been a very unpleasant, turbulent relentless time in my life. I’ve had to deal with myriad horrible things that have continued to happen just for complaining about, I don’t like that word, alerting people to what I deemed was bad behaviour.”
Among the more sinister aspects of the fallout were death threats and even a sickening rape threat made against her 15-year-old daughter, all of which have been referred to the Met Police.
Despite all of this, Amanda insisted she has no regrets about making her complaints.
Giovanni released a statement after the findings were made public.
In it, he said: “It’s over. It’s finished.
“Six months, seven months of all of this. Seven months of reading everyday things in the newspaper and not be able to respond because I wanted to keep the confidentiality and privacy of the review, was a difficult time. It was difficult because, you know, reading stuff that were untrue, wasn’t the nicest time of my life lets be honest.
“But today im happy because, you know, at the beginning there were very very serious allegations thrown out at me but as in today, none of the serious allegations have been upheld.
“All the threatening, abusive, harassment behaviour allegations have not been upheld.”
We revealed Amanda is now going to have sit down talks with the BBC and could take legal action.
Strictly Come Dancing's scandal has been growing over the past few months, with several major players speaking out about what went on. Here are the key moments of what's happened so far
16th May: Giovanni Pernice sensationally quits Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show.
17th May: Giovanni becomes the centre of an official investigation after three former partners – believed to be Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh – make complaints to the BBC.
16th June: Giovanni releases an official statement vowing to clear his name and denies any wrongdoing.
8th July: Strictly confirms Aljaz Skorjanec will return to the series, replacing Giovanni, after initially quitting the show two years ago.
10th July: Amanda Abbington launches fresh legal proceedings to get the rehearsal footage from her time with Giovanni, after allegedly he refused to release the videos.
13th July: Graziano Di Prima is axed from Strictly for “gross misconduct” after footage of his treatment of Zara McDermott is brought to the attention of the BBC.
Graziano quickly broke his silence, apologising for his behaviour in a statement and saying he “deeply regrets it”, adding his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected his training regime.”
15th July: Strictly bosses implement new duty of care protocols, including having a chaperone present throughout all rehearsals.
16th July: Zara McDermott speaks out publicly for first time. She states while the production team were “amazing to work with”, she found the rehearsal room “completely different”, confirming there’s footage of “certain situations”.
19th July: Anton Du Beke is put under the spotlight for his “1970s attitude” and treatment of female celeb stars, particularly after allegedly referring to 2009 partner Laila Rouass as a “p***” after getting a spray tan.
21st July: Paralympian Will Bayley, who has limb condition arthrogryposis, revealed he was encouraged to leap from a table during a dance routine, despite fears. The stunt caused an injury that forced him to withdraw from the show.
22nd July: MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace admits he broke down in tears and got a nasty stress rash on his face during his time on Strictly in 2014.
22nd July: Despite ongoing issues, the Strictly professional cast begin rehearsals for this year’s series.
23rd July: Celebrity agent Melanie Blake claims she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed pro dancer while backstage on the show, and claims she witnessed ageism, rudeness and a rough treatment to the point of injury.
23rd July: Strictly is forced to beef up security after ‘an intruder scales the wall of the rehearsal studio’.
23rd July: BBC boss Tim Davie breaks his silence on the ongoing allegations against Strictly, saying he is ‘deeply sorry’, adding: “Hundreds of people, be they pros, contestants or crew have been part of it and had a brilliant experience.
“At the same time if someone thinks there was something wrong or they want to talk about their experience then of course we want them to raise that with us. Be in no doubt we will take it seriously, listen and deal with it as appropriate.”
24th July: Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy holds a bombshell interview with Amanda Abbington on Channel 4 news, where she claims she was bullied, with some of the ‘humilation being of a sexual nature’.
27th July: Laura Whitmore releases a statement regarding her Strictly experience, saying “I thought my experience was specific to me but I’ve since learned I was wrong”.
She adds she is not part of the official complaint, but has come forward to support Amanda with the BBC, alongside others.
28th July: Laila Rouass speaks out against the accusations regarding Anton Du Beke, saying she “never felt pressured” by him and “personally insisted on six to seven hours training a day”.
10th August: Graziano breaks his silence on his Strictly axe, saying “these vile, false allegations have ruined my life.”
He also told of the “shocking” end to his friendship with Zara McDermott.
We also revealed that Amanda Abbington was also quizzed for a second time as Strictly execs recruited 15 new staff to monitor rehearsals.
11th August: Just as the investigation was expected to conclude, Amanda made a dramatic intervention. Giovanni was on the brink of being cleared until Amanda handed in more text messages.
24th August: Graziano Di Prima called in top lawyers to sue the BBC and to try to clear his name. He recruited big hitters Whitestone Chambers to fight his corner.
A source said: “They’ve also looked at his BBC contract and believe there are grounds to sue.”
Meanwhile, the BBC also delayed releasing the findings of the probe into Giovanni Pernice. The Sun revealed that the results of the three-month investigation were unlikely to be announced in August.