‘Whatever Phillip and Holly want, they get’: Eamonn Holmes blasts ITV bosses for letting ‘treasured hosts’ appear drunk on air while he and Ruth Langsford were ‘banned’ from advertising chocolates
Eamonn Holmes has hit out at ITV bosses for double standards, accusing them of pandering to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
The veteran presenter, 63, launched another scathing attack at his former This Morning co-stars on GB News on Tuesday night, in the wake of Phillip’s affair scandal.
Veteran TV presenter Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a young male colleague on This Morning.
In the bombshell interview, Eamonn blasted ITV as he said ‘whatever Holly and Phil want, they get’.
The TV host questioned why the duo were allowed to advocate drinking when they appeared drunk on air after the National Television Awards in 2016, while he was banned for promoting chocolate because it’s ‘poisonous’.
Speaking out: Eamonn Holmes has hit out at ITV bosses for double standards, accusing them of pandering to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby
Controversy: The TV host questioned why the duo were allowed to advocate drinking when they appeared drunk on air after the National Television Awards (pictured in 2016)
He told Dan Wootton: ‘First of all, the National Television Awards, there is this event which you’ve got to understand This Morning, under the guise of Phillip and Holly is a very false existent F A F, I won’t tell you what those initials stand for.
‘The first word is false. And the second word is as, you can leave it the third word, and they are then allowed to turn up the next day advocating the use of drink,’ he said.
‘And sit on a couch, “I’m so drunk, I haven’t been to bed or haven’t been to bed either. I’m drunk or whatever, whatever”.
‘And yet, ITV this is at a time, the legacy of Ant McPartlin lovely fella, lovely fellow, who was in a driving accident where people were injured and he was under the influence of drink, and yet they can promote that.’
In 2018, Ant, 47, was twice over the legal drink-drive limit when he completed a breathalyser test after the crash.
He was fined £86,000 and handed a 20 month driving ban.
Eamonn continued: ‘But they come in doing their drunk act the next day. So it’s either an act in which case it’s false, or they are drunk, in which case it should not be allowed.’
The host went on to question why Holly and Phil were allowed to host the show while seemingly drunk, yet bosses put a stop to his advertising deal with a chocolate brand.
The GB News host admitted he is bitter about Phillip and Holly, 42, signing lucrative advertising contracts because he felt his opportunities were scuppered.
Eamonn said: ‘Ruth and I are prevented from advertising chocolate in an advert, because it is a poisonous product. It would be poisonous to advertise chocolate, is poisonous, and you’re not going to be allowed to do it.
The veteran presenter, 63, launched another scathing attack at his former This Morning co-stars on GB News on Tuesday night, in the wake of Phillip’s affair scandal
Frustrated: Eamonn said while it was ‘one rule for Holly and Phil’ it was a completely different story for himself and wife Ruth Langsford when it came to advertisement opportunities
Lucrative: Phillip signed a reported £1million contract to become the face of We Buy Any Car in 2017, appearing in countless adverts
ITV’s golden girl: Holly, meanwhile, has a series of lucrative brand deals from Marks and Spencer (pictured) to Diet Coke
Scandal: Schofield with his former lover on This Morning’s sofa
‘The Editor of This Morning cultivated a huge area whereby anything to indulge Phillip and Holly, whatever Phillip and Holly want they get.
‘Holly and Phillip he can sell cars, she can sell whatever she wants, but she’s worried about not being able to sell anything now because her image may well be damaged because she’s associated with Phillip now.
READ MORE: ITV faces allegations of double standards after refusing to share details on Phillip Schofield workplace romance investigation
‘But these are rules from one and rules for the other. Does that make me bitter? Maybe it does. Maybe it does make me bitter.’
Phillip signed a reported £1million contract to become the face of We Buy Any Car in 2017, appearing in countless adverts.
But he was dropped last year after the fallout from widespread claims that he and Holly jumped the 14-hour queue to see the Queen lying in state.
Holly, meanwhile, has a series of lucrative brand deals from Marks and Spencer to Diet Coke.
MailOnline has contacted ITV and Holly’s representatives for comment.
Eamonn – a broadcasting institution of over five decades – has known Phillip for most of his professional life.
They began working together on This Morning in 2006 when Eamonn joined the programme four years after his rival.
In November 2021, Eamonn and Ruth were controversially axed from This Morning after 15 years and replaced on the Friday show by Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond.
Hitting back: Speaking out for the first time since leaving the show, Schofield hit out at those ‘with a grudge against me’
Former colleagues: Ruth, Phil, Eamonn and Holly in 2020, when they presented This Morning together
Eamonn was particularly aggrieved about being let go by ITV, claiming he was never given an accurate reason.
Phil’s bombshell revelation on Friday night that he had an affair with a much younger man has now left ITV bosses facing a ‘desperate bid’ to salvage the beleaguered show over the next few weeks.
Holly is battling to maintain her presenting gig on This Morning amid a number of calls for her to go, including former culture secretary Nadine Dorries who claimed the much-loved presenter ‘has questions to answers’.
She has currently been off-air since Schofield’s sudden departure, however, this was due to planned holiday for the school half term break.
The presenter of 14-years is expected to make a return to the programme on June 5.
Phillip, meanwhile, took to Instagram this week to defend himself and the show he presented for more than 20 years, posting on Instagram: ‘Now I no longer work on This Morning I am free to say this.
‘I hope you have noticed that it is the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.
‘This Morning is the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there, there was no toxicity’.
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