PHILLIP Schofield is set to be axed from This Morning after multiple scandals involving alleged grooming, queue jumping and the fallout from his brothers sexual abuse trial that led to Holly Willoughby refusing to appear on the show for a whole week.
He could be replaced by Alison Hammond after ITV did a “test run” whilst Phillip was forced off air over his brothers abuse trial in which he was found guilty.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: “As part of their strategy to listen to their audiences, ITV chiefs monitor social media to see how fans are reacting to their stars.”
Another ITV source added: “It has put an idea into the heads of ITV chiefs – to bring a bit of ‘girl power’ to the show.”
“It’s a case of both things colliding. Fans say they are over Phil and they love Alison.”
This comes as a Daily Express and another Politicalite poll reveal 89% think Phillip should be sacked from the programme at the time of publication.
HAD THEIR PHIL
The allegations concerned an alleged relationship with a former show runner Mathew McGreevey which sparked an all out ‘civil war’ inside ITV Daytime and led to a rift between Ruth Langsford who quit over the show with husband Eamon Holmes.
Politicalite was the only website to report on the allegations in 2020 and became one of our biggest ever stories rocking ITV and being talked about by Joan Collins and the original celebrity blogger Perez Hilton on Good Morning Britain.
Schofield, 57 is alleged to have been having an affair with a male runner called Matthew Mcgreevy who is said to have been “furious” that Schofe had apparently ‘f*cked him over’ and was reportedly going to go to the press and that led to the star orchestrating his fake “coming out” as gay to the nation.
McGreevy is said to have had a ‘close working-relationship’ with Schofe but after they had a ‘bust up’ the studio runner left This Morning to work on rival ITV show Loose Women – fronted by Ruth Langsford.
Rumours went into over-drive on the set of the hit daytime show after Ruth Langsford lodged an official complaint.
ITV said that the runner was ‘promoted’ but other staff were said to be ‘confused’ about the move.
“It was odd because they were so close and then he up and went to Loose Women and they didn’t seem to be talking much anymore,” one source told the Sun in 2019.
It was later revealed that the runner might have been groomed after it was revealed that he met the lad when he was a youngster at a theatre academy and was 18 years old when he was invited down to the This Morning studios for an exclusive backstage tour of the hit daytime show.
In 2014, before he landed the plush runner job on the show Mr McGreevy, then 18, ‘got a taste for television’ spending the day with Phil and his co-host Holly Willoughby after being invited for an ‘access all areas’ tour at ITV’s then-London Studios.
McGreevy was also a member of The 2 Faced Theatre Academy in Holmfirth, were Phillip, 57, is a patron.
The revelations and alleged affair left many wondering what age Matthew was when the pair first met and have also brought suggestions of Mr Schofield abusing his position of power.
Matthew told The Manchester Evening News at the time: “I couldn’t believe how everything was done so quickly and I learnt a lot from Phillip Schofield.
“I am very new to TV, and I am always learning. I have learnt a lot from The 2 faced Theatre Academy and they have opened many doors for me.”
This is not the first time the pair had been together.
He was recorded in a restaurant with McGreevy by infamous internet prankster JackJonesTV who was popular in the mid-2010s.
At the time ITV said: “”It’s deeply disappointing and unfair for Phillip to be the target of this sort of malicious gossip.”
Politicalite has approached ITV for comment but has not yet received a reply.
