PHILLIP Schofield has been accused of lying about being sacked by ITV on his new TV show, Cast Away.
The shamed TV presenter, 62, made his comeback to screens on Monday night for a new documentary series where he’s stranded on a desert island for 10 days.
Phillip blames his brother’s conviction for the downfall of his career[/caption]
Schofield’s brother Timothy was jailed last year for a string of sexual offences towards children[/caption]
During the three-episode series, which continues tonight and tomorrow night, Schofield blames his brother for being “fired” from his lucrative This Morning and Dancing on Ice gigs.
In April 2023, Timothy Schofield was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child – including emotionally blackmailing a child into sex acts.
Phillip believes the discovery of Timothy’s crimes caused ITV to edge him out before firing him.
However, according to The Mirror, ITV insiders are highly refuting the claims, saying: “Phillip’s new comments are simply untrue, he is lying again.”
Instead, they claim he quit when the fallout of the conviction – combined with his “unwise but not illegal” affair with a 19-year-old runner on This Morning – became too much.
‘We stood by him through his brother’s court case and he then stepped away when things became too much,” the source said.
“He then admitted himself he had been lying about an affair and he resigned from ITV altogether.
“We didn’t sack him, he lied to us and then he resigned, there is not much else to say and we as a network just want to move on.”
Schofield has vowed he would “never return” to work for ITV following the fallout of his exit.
On Cast Away, in scenes set to air on Wednesday night, Schofield speaks out about what happened with Timothy, saying he was “open and honest” about what was happening with his colleagues at work.
Saying he “refuses to name or acknowledge” his sibling, the star tells cameras he had “no qualms” in handing him over to police, claiming he was “praised” for doing so by officers.
But he adds this marked the beginning of the end of his career, claiming: “Even though they knew all of the facts the papers painted me out to be some sort of complicit agent.
“That was when my world started to collapse. My poor mum, I had to tell her about that member of the family. To break that to your mother is tough.”
“Everything came to a head the day before he was sentenced when my agent called,” he continues, saying he later got a phone call from his manager to say he had been let go from This Morning.
“What? because of what? ‘Think it’s the publicity, mate’, that’s got nothing to do with me, that has nothing to do with me,” he told cameras of the conversation.
‘Why would I be sacked for something someone 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 fired for the bad publicity, for someone else’s crime,” he added. “And the thing is, about a week later, I blew my own wheels off with everything else [the affair], because I thought the only way to even begin to put this right for everybody is to do a full mea culpa.”
Cast Away continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.
In the documentary, Schofield reflects on telling his mum about his brother’s actions[/caption]
The star says ITV sacked him – which insiders have strongly denied[/caption]
Schofield said he claimed he’d resigned at the time as it was “neater for everybody”[/caption]
