A NEW poll has urged ITV to replace Phillip Schofield on This Morning – following a petition calling to sack the star after his brother was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenager and the fallout from queue gate and an alleged grooming row.
The poll – conducted by the Daily Express newspaper – resulted in 88% readers voting overwhelmingly in support of the presenter being removed from the show allowing for new hosts to front This Morning – a similar result to a poll conducted by Politicalite on April 9th that found 89% wanted ITV to sack Schofe.
Dan Wootton also laid into Schofield, saying : “Despite being one of the longest serving and highest paid stars at the network, secured with a prized golden handcuffs deal, in my experience Phillip Schofield is also the most reviled.”
He continued: “When I speak to many household name ITV presenters they don’t have a good word to say about the bloke who viewers know affectionately as Schofe.” For some reason, in my experience, ITV bosses always found excuses for the way Schofield treats people, even as they were prepared to throw the likes of fellow ITV Daytime stars Piers Morgan and Jeremy Kyle under the bus.”
The poll that ran from 11.15am on Friday, April 21, to 1.15pm on Tuesday, April 25, Express.co.uk asked readers: “Should Phillip Schofield be replaced on This Morning?”.
A total of 3,815 readers responded with the vast majority, 88 percent (3,350 people) answering “yes” he should be replaced.
Whereas 11 percent (420 people) said “no” he should not, and a further one percent (45 people) said they did not know either way.
TENSE MORNING, PHIL?
PHILLIP Schofield looked “tense” when he appeared in Mondays programme, body language expert Judi James has said.
She claimed that 61-year-old TV host was seemingly ‘tense’ and showed ‘vulnerability’ during his return to the sofa today after more than a month away following his brother Tim’s child sex abuse trial.
She told MailOnline: ‘Phillip Schofield’s bulletproof smile defied the critics this morning as he and Holly Willoughby were re-united at last after their time apart.
‘Holly and Phill’s smiles vanishing would be like the ravens leaving the Tower of London, but their intro didn’t swerve round the fact that both had time off, with Phillip even performing a theatrical-looking sigh of utter relief as he turned to smile at his co-host.
‘Phillip’s hands were clasped behind his back, suggesting some sense of vulnerability and his raised brows and his softened smile and vocal tone as he asked Holly “Are you ok?” did look heartfelt.
‘He even patted Holly on the back in another gesture of appreciation and his words “all mended” sounded like a multi-level desire to get things back to normal and move on.’
THE VERDICT: SACK SCHOFE!
The result comes after reports that Phillip is set to axed from This Morning and could be replaced by fan favourite Alison Hammond.
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 source added: ‘It’s a case of both things colliding. Fans say they are over Phil and they love Alison.’
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.”
Politicalite approached ITV for comment on the matter, but the network did not respond to comment at the time of publication.
More follows.
