Phillip Schofield says that he learned about allegations of toxicity on This Morning following his departure from the daytime programme – and took aim at three people he was “aware of”. Schofield departed ITV in May 2023 in the wake of his secret affair revelations, after leaving This Morning that same month. After the furore over Schofield’s admission of an “unwise, but not illegal” relationship with a younger male colleague, former This Morning doctor Ranj Singh hit out at a “toxic” culture on the programme.
Dr Ranj claimed he raised concerns about “bullying and discrimination” while working at ITV – and afterwards felt like he was “managed out” for whistleblowing. Schofield said there was “no toxicity” on the programme at the time, and his allegations were about the “same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice”. On the second episode of Channel 5’s Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, where the 62-year-old spends 10 days alone on a small island off the coast of Madagascar in his first return to a TV series since leaving ITV, he addressed the claims again, saying at first it was “utter bollocks”, before saying that “there wasn’t (toxicity) when I was there”.
“I found out after I left that there are a few people in there that might be a little bit toxic,” he added. “I never saw it ..
. when (you’re) on the telly, you don’t see stuff like that, you’re protected from it, people.