Phillip Schofield was ‘the most overexposed man ever’, Chris Tarrant says
Chris Tarrant has dubbed Phillip Schofield as "the most overexposed man ever" and accused the former ITV star of having "lost the plot" after fame supposedly went to his head.
Chris Tarrant has said Phillip Schofield was “the most overexposed man ever”.
The former ITV star, 63, left his presenting job on This Morning in 2023 after he had an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a much younger male colleague, though returned to the box the following year for a Channel 5 series called Cast Away.
Now, the former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host, 78, has slammed Phillip and claimed he had “lost the plot” once fame went to his head.
Chris told the Sunday Telegraph: “He was the most overexposed man ever, maybe apart from [Terry] Wogan at his peak.
“But Terry was on all the time because he was very good, funny and likeable, and bright as a button. I loved him.
“Schofield, they always said, 'Oh, but he's a safe pair of hands.' Did anyone ever say, ‘Oh, it's five to eight, got to get home quick because the safe pair of hands is on?’ Dear oh dear. Those shows he did - Dancing On Ice, The Cube, everything - were mainly c***.”
Referring to Phillip’s Cast Away, Chris insisted: “There was not a hint of apology or ‘maybe I was a little bit out of order.’ Christ Almighty.”
After he left ITV, Phillip claimed he was “thrown under the bus” and had been “fired” due to the negative publicity from his paedophile brother Timothy, who was sentenced to 12 months in jail in April 2023 of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019 – including two of sexual activity with a child.
Phillip said on the final episode of his desert island series about how he flew into a rage when his agent called him to say he was being let go from ITV: “My phone rang and I picked it up, ’Mate are you somewhere quiet?’ – which is never a good sign.”
Phillip added his agent told him: “Erm, I’ve got a bit of a shock. I’m afraid you’ve been let go from This Morning.
“That’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday.”
Phillip said he asked: “What? Because of what?”, as his agent replied: “I think it's the publicity mate.”
The TV host went on: “[I told my agent] 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?”
He said: “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.”
